Last Weekend

Kate sent along the pictures and so here they are! My old friend from the home neighborhood in Sabattus dropped by with his girlfriend Kelly. They had gone to a concert Saturday night and came over to hang out with Kate and I on Saturday. We went to The Sunset Cantina for lunch and then to the North End afterwards for gelato. We walked down part of the Rose Kennedy Greenway afterward and watched kids play in a fantastic programed fountain in the park. It is much more entertaining to see in person than it sounds. Sorry no pictures of that.

Jason just got back from a tour in Iraq. I have enormous appreciation for people like Jason who sacrifice their time for the interests of our Nation. Ultimately I didn't agree with the premise of the war, but we have a duty to the Iraqi people. I believe we can, and have made a difference. I hope that the Iraqi people will rise to the challenge of building a better future for themselves and setting an example for the region. The hard work of Jason and countless other soldiers has made inspiring progress. That these men and women are willing to put them selves in harms way to help bring stability to the people of Iraq speaks volumes of their character.
After Jason & Kelly headed home, Kate and I decided hop on the Blue Line and go for a stroll at Revere Beach. We enjoyed the great weather, the exercise, and the people-watching. There was quite a bit of Kite-boarding going on at the north end of the beach which was a lot of fun to watch.

Stick a fork in him...

John McCain is all done.

My feelings of the last night of the convention were a mixture of awe, pride, appreciation, and anger.

Noticeably I haven't been pontificating lately about my views. Really I'm admitting that it is a lost cause. I won't be voting for Obama, but I suspect many of my peers and a majority of this country will.

If you don't follow politics, have a grasp of business, or the world economy, if you don't have the urge to dig deeper, if you are moved by emotions rather than facts, and if you saw Barack Obama's convention speech and any or most of these things apply to you... then I find it next to impossible that you'll consider casting a vote for an old war veteran from the party of a corrupt presidency that by and large destroyed the Republican party. Really.... I kind of wish I believed in his politics more so I could vote for him.... but I just can't.

I watched CNN's coverage because the sound quality is better and heard several rave reviews from commentators immediately after the speech. I wanted to hear the Fox commentators because they tend to be either more independent or right wing biased. I switched over and saw Bill Kristol, editor of the conservative "Weekly Standard" basically looking shell shocked exclaiming the speech was a masterpiece. I've been watching Kristol's response to many speeches through this convention, and he was by far the most biased critic of speakers, to the point which it made me scoff at most of what he said. For him to shrug in defeat... you know it was good, and it was.

The spectacle, the charisma of Obama, and the resentment of George W. Bush are all going to carry Obama to a victory in November.

I could go on and on about the twisted things said during the convention, I could complain about Obama's socialist tendencies, I could be critical of support for affirmative action, and calls for a new affirmative action plan Obama and the Democrats are pushing that applies to women.... but in the end I'm not sure it matters. I could point out that taking profits from oil companies is going to force them to raise prices. I could point out that Obama is not cutting taxes for 95% of Americans if he raises capital gains tax by 10-15%. I could point out that Obama's plan to give students $4,000 for college for a mere 100 hours of community service is ridiculous (THAT'S $40 an hour!!!! FOR VOLUNTEER WORK!!! please.....). I could point out that Obama supports increased Unionization of American workers.... dated groups of organizations that promote corruption, decreased productivity, and drives American work over seas. I could point out that supplying health care to people in place of encouraging people to work to take care of them selves will create complacency, add more strain to the health services and decrease quality of care for everyone... I could point out that we'll still eventually end up paying for it in increased taxes or decreased wages. I could talk about how Obama is for Nuclear power (or fill in other issue) one day and against it the next. I could mention that Obama wants us to quit fossil fuels cold turkey rather than take a realistic approach....... I guess in my typed rant here... I am pointing these things out.

Yes Barack Obama is really inspiring.

I just finished reading "The Audacity of Hope" and I have to say, if I can take any solace from it, it is that I believe the Obamas are decent people. (The Clintons are not.) I believe Barack really wants to help people.

My problem is there is a major disconnect for me on HOW he proposes to do this. It is contrary to the innovative spirit and competitive drive that defines America. When Barack Obama says he believes in personal accountability, I believe he is talking about something different than what I was raised to believe it is. I was raised to believe that you have to take care of your self, and that you can't expect anyone else to. Barack believes in Utilitarian and Marxist principles. He believes that we must all take care of each other as though we are ants rather than people. The United States was created to allow people to reach their dreams.... not to collectively share our wealth to help everyone else who doesn't have the ambition to do so. We split from England because of the redistribution of wealth. Now we have someone running for president who feels a duty to redistribute wealth. This is theft, plain and simple. It is class warfare... leftist politics 101.

Barack Obama claims to believe in self reliance.... but everything about his politics says otherwise. He wants the government to make decisions for people, rather than the people to make decisions for themselves. Talk about un-American!

Barack Obama is a good man... but remember so was Jimmy Carter.

I think my one hope is that his populist tendencies allow for the health care initiatives to be watered down. That a lot of what he campaigns on is just rhetoric. (Remember Bill Clinton? The liberal who championed a GOP agenda) Of course we have a Democrat run Legislature which will probably be even more leftist come 2009. So I don't expect much in terms of reducing the deficit. In fact I believe they have been driving up spending to record levels the past two years with the intention of still being able to claim "deficit reduction" from the last Bush year, all while spending wildly more than the typical fiscal year. Anyway, I'm tired of the speculating etc. Obama will be president, so lets all just hope for the best.

(McCain's choosing Pawlenty from the looks of it----or "Huckabee-light" as I'm going to call him, (groan...) and a hurricane will likely strike New Orleans during the GOP convention, it is like an act of God, if you ascribe to that sort of thing....)

Horay for Boston...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26338142/
The best U.S. cities for earning a living
Sure the cost of living may be high, but the pay and opportunities are great

From Article:

"Right behind Houston are Minneapolis, home to more of the nation's top companies per capita than any other city; Boston, fueled heavily by the biotech industry; and Washington, D.C., where unless the government goes out of business, consulting firms will continue to make a killing."

This is yet another weak way of getting out of writing a substantial post.

If Kate emails me some pictures ;) I can write a lovely post on the weekend... and even go into detail on the prior weekend's hike. (hint hint... nudge nudge...)

What a painful weekend for New England sports......

Anyway, enjoy Monday, as much as one can.

A photo-illustrated guide to a seafood feast

Briefly...

Kate and I went to Schenectady, NY this weekend to visit with her family. We did some hiking on Saturday and then took her Mom & Aunt out to the Cheesecake Factory later on for dinner. It was a very nice visit, and we really lucked out on the weather aside from some intense thunderstorms (surprise surprise...) on drive way over.

I'll detail this a bit more later, Kate took a handful of pictures that I may have some interesting things to write about.

Arriving back in Brookline Sunday night, we got some Chinese takeout, and watched the Olympics. There was some diving on, and some final "singles" exercises for both men and women's gymnastics. It was impressive to see a 33 year old German woman medal in one of the events, when typically if you are 18 in women's gymnastics that seems to make you a veteran.

Monday was slow, I was overtired, and I really am glad it is over. Bed beckons, and I already managed to fall asleep on the futon. I was flipping through the channels, and apparently I was so tired I managed to fall asleep while the TV was on "Telemundo".

Chicken Parmigiana

Kate made a lovely chicken parmigiana for supper tonight. I had been looking forward to it all day. We peered through some NY-state travel books again today, looking for things to do on Saturday while we are up visiting Kate's Mom & Aunt. I headed home around 9:00, and read so more of "The Audacity of Hope" on the train. (Yes I'm reading it, I think it is educational, and it is actually well written too... it always is good to get a comprehensive view, least that's what I think).

When I got back to Melrose I popped some corn and sat down to enjoy the Olympics. The women's gymnastics team competition was on. I watched the U.S. attempt to take the gold from China only to fall short. Alicia Sacramone made one bad mistake on the beam, and suffered the effects of psychological aftermath the remainder of the competition. It was tough to watch her because I can imagine how mentally painful it must have been. The mental fortitude that the Olympians have is really beyond my grasp. I think one of the major reasons I never was much of an athlete in youth (besides being a late bloomer...) was that mentally I could just not cut it. Making mistakes on your own is bad enough, making mistakes that effect a whole team was more pressure than I could bear. I beat myself up too badly, and that is what happened to Sacramone. I really was cursing the camera operator for not cutting this girl a break. They were constantly on her, zooming in looking for a sign of tears. She held it together, much better than I would have ever done.

The Chinese girls were good, although across the board, small mistakes riddled the competition. A highlight was this one girl who put smiles on even the depressed U.S. team's faces when she performed a light hearted floor exercise, smiling and showing off the entire time.

The personalities of these Chinese athletes are a definite sharp contrast to those of the Soviet teams of old, and even ex-Soviet republics of today. They seem to really enjoy what they do. I recall the Olympics of years past where Eastern Block athletes appeared consumed by fear of failing the "mother land".

One thing I can't fathom is how the girls are able to judge the boundaries of the floor exercise area without even looking at them. I wince every time I see them flip backwards only to land right on the boundary line a hair from a point deduction.

Well... work awaits, I better get some ZZZZZs.

One delay after another....

I had been meaning to sit down and write this entry all evening, however I've been busy all night with one errand/chore after another. Not to mention I got distracted by the Olympics as well. I have to admit, I think the coverage this time around seems a bit improved. More events, more sports, less touchy feely crap that causes various events to get side lined from prime time coverage. My one complaint would be "Bob Costas"... he pisses me off. Also this weekend a female reporter absolutely hounded one of the female US swimmers who got close to the divider at the end of a race. She was treating her like a politician who had been caught in some fraudulent activity and it was absolutely uncalled for.

But to update you on my weekend:
So... Friday was uneventful, Chinese take out, followed by me passing out on the couch and then ultimately going to bed. I watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics (spectacular!) and a comedy/documentary called "Super High Me" (You can guess the plot/purpose). Amusing stuff.

Saturday... busy busy... I planned a dinner for my friend Jason's birthday. I ran around all day cleaning, doing laundry, buying food, preparing food... you get the picture. To make a long story short, I over cooked the steak, under cooked the potatoes, but the steamed clams and the salad came out just fine. I got praise for the corn on the cob too, but seriously if I managed to screw that up, it would be a talent all on it's own. I had a cake but no way to really sneak the candles on so I told Jason to imagine that they were there, and Kate and I sang "Happy Birthday". Jason brought some wine to accompany our feast, which was much appreciated.

Sunday.... it rained. Kate and I went to "On the Border". I ordered some sort of massive burrito which I had for lunch and supper (ala the dogie bag). Kate and I looked up some info on our trip to the Albany area to see her Mom & Aunt. We were planning to do a little sight seeing that Saturday, perhaps some hiking or kayaking.

And here's Monday. A fairly productive day at work, I made it to the gym, and even managed to get a lot accomplished tonight.

I do have a lot of things I'd love to rant about (beyond Bob Costas's gig hosting the Olympics) but I just didn't have the time tonight.

And now I MUST go to bed. Seriously....

The rain is getting old....

Really....

I used to claim to like thunder storms, but when days are made up of a succession of them, one leading into another, they really sort of lose their magic.

Today I had to travel for work outside Cambridge. Luckily it was a co-worker's turn to drive. On the way back to Melrose we had to turn around about 1/2 a dozen times because there was over a foot of water sitting in the roads. There were firetrucks screaming down dry sections in an attempt to rescue a couple of drivers who thought they would make it.... and got stuck in their cars, at the whim of the currents of the flash flood waters. It was ugly. I felt bad for my coworker because he had to meet his wife at a certain time and it just wasn't working out for him.

As I write this... it is thundering and raining, yet again.

Well tomorrow is already Friday, and it is hard to believe. This week really flew by. I hear we might have some severe thunder storms this weekend. Well I guess it will just give me an excuse to cook something up and watch the Olympics.

Let's see if the rain can put me to sleep.

(disclaimer: really, I'm going to actually read these after I write them one of these days, make sure they are somewhat coherent!)

The best 2008 political satire to date....

From Paris Hilton?!

I know by now this story is old.. but hey I'm going to be lazy and hope that one of you hasn't seen this yet.

Really it doesn't matter that it was scripted, it doesn't matter that it wasn't her idea. I have nothing but praise for the usually scandalous socialite in terms of this little bit. And her energy plan actually IS the only one that makes sense... that from a couple of comedy writers, go figure.

I hear the "pink house" and the leopard skin bikini were her ideas. If the imbeded video doesn't work (I think there may be too much traffic) visit funnyordie with the link below.

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

August Rises....

The first weekend of August was both busy and very... well, for lack of a better word, wet.

I had plans to go meet up with some friends after work on Friday. I headed up to Maine immediately after work. For whatever reason the traffic was a real struggle (more so than usual) leaving Friday night. I got stuck driving in the tunnel underneath Rt. 28 near Sullivan Square for a 1/2 hour. The intersection where the tunnel empties out is quite a mess and no one has any clue where they are going. To make it worse, the light stays green for about 5 seconds and then the other routes feeding into the intersection get several minutes divided up amongst them.

The weather was nice in Boston as I was leaving however as soon as I arrived at the Portsmouth bridge into Maine, a nearly impenetrable fog had settled upon the landscape. It spit rain intermittently until I arrived at Tim and Brandy's apartment in Saco. John was there and I planned to head back to Portland with him after eating supper. Brandy prepared a nice pasta meal and salad with strawberry shortcake for desert. Tim, Brandy and their friend Sherri were carb-loading for the "Beach to Beacon" which is a 10k race. (Hope everyone did well!)

After some good food and conversation John and I headed out to Portland. We stopped by John's apartment in the West End quickly and then walked over to the Old Port. It was the first time that I've been to John's new apartment. It is a great well laid out studio in an old colonial building. The mahogany woodwork and the maple hardwood floors give it a lot of great character. But the best characteristic is definitely the neighborhood which could be much more picturesque and convenient.

We met up with two of John's friends Lindsay and Maria at a new (to me) bar called Novare Res. Novare Res specializes in "craft beers" as they are often called. However separating it from many higher end bars, the menu is populated with more regional brews than it is with imports, which is fine considering the bevy of micro-brewers in the area. They had a large list of 750 mL bottles to choose from which was a nice touch. Beyond the beer selection, the location was fantastic. It is tucked away in an alley, and a outdoor large deck occupies an area that probably at one time may have been occupied by another building or was perhaps used primarily for utility purposes such as a loading dock. It is surrounded by buildings with the exception of the alley that you must walk down to enter the bar. The deck was located slightly above the level of the street built on ledge and/or an old foundation. The actual pub is located to it's left and is in the basement of an older brick building. Communal wooden tables populate both the interior of the pub and the deck.

Between the four of us we split two 750 mL bottles before heading over to the favorite Old Port dive "Rosie's". From there our drinking of course downgraded to old faithful PBR.

Lindsay and Maria were both very interesting to meet and talk to. Lindsay was actually from Bar Harbor and I had gone to college with and knew in passing one of her high school class mates (Kate Muzzy) (I'm sure I'm misspelling that last name) which would have been un-circumstantial except that this was out in Wyoming, not St. Joseph's. And Maria shared a great deal of great stories about growing up with her close knit Italian family. At one point in the evening John & Lindsay were out for their periodic cigarette smokes and came back with several large chocolate cup cakes. Apparently there had been a wedding party nearby and some one was giving the remainders to people on the street. They were a great accompaniment to the PBR.

When the bar closed John and I headed back to his apartment and had a couple more beers and ended out the night with the usual good discussion set to some music courtesy of the ipod on shuffle. John cooked up a quesadilla that he bought from Whole Foods, and had some bread with hummus to satisfy the early morning hunger pangs. Eventually in the wee hours I crashed on the air mattress John set up for me.

The next day we decided to get some lunch before I headed back to Massachusetts and John headed into work. He brought me to Aurora Provisions, a specialty food shop and deli where we grabbed some sandwiches and chips. It is a great little place, definitely catering to the bohemian/yuppie crowd that I am (some times reluctantly) a part of. We both had turkey sandwiches that had layers of home made bread, a great Asian spicy sauce, and a ton of vegetables, including cucumbers, tomatoes, and various greens. After eating lunch I dropped John off near the city center before getting back on 295 to head to Massachusetts.

I was excited to get back and go see Kate. We were headed to see "The Boss" Bruce Springsteen at Gillette stadium. I was never a fan but I saw him a few years back with my friend Jason when he offered me a ticket, and I had new respect. Kate mentioned liking some of the songs from his latest album so I picked up the tickets on a rare impulse buy.

From the time I left Portland for Boston it seemed like all of the odds were being stacked against me. I got caught up in unexpected traffic at the toll booths which one might expect on a Sunday night, but certainly not a Saturday. When I finally got through into Massachusetts I realized I had to call Kate and tell her I had been overly ambitious with my 4-4:30 pm E.T.A. To compound things even more as I crossed the Tobin bridge there was a down pour so intense I had to slow down to 25-30 mph. It was a rare occasion when I actually welcomed the shelter of the big dig. I ended up arriving at Kate's around 4:50. I had hopped on arriving around 4:00 pm since I left Portland just prior to 2:00 pm, but no such luck.

At Kate's apartment we rushed to get directions to Gillette from mapquest. The route from Brookline was a bit more complicated than I thought it would be, and I did manage to make a couple wrong turns. They were recognized quickly and no harm came from them, largely in part to Kate's navigation assistance.

Kate and I were running short on time so I decided that we should just eat at a Friendly's which happens to be one of Kate's favorites anyway. After eating some greasy sandwiches and fries in an outdated strip-mall-Friendly's-location, somewhere in Dedham, we continued on our way to Foxboro.

What I hadn't accounted for (Stupid me....) was the backed up traffic. Honestly we probably were only held up for a little over a half hour, but I was cursing at myself for not planning better. Additionally I had forgotten about the parking fee but luckily Kate had enough extra cash to help me out.

So we are at the show, parked walking to the stadium, relief right? WRONG! I had this naive idea that because of the intense thunder storms earlier, that we would be in the clear. The sky had gone from clear in Brookline, right back to black over Gillette stadium. The lightning started to appear and it wasn't long be for distant rumbles became jolting cracks that made the little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

I thought optimistically "Well when we're in line, if it rains we'll get inside before it arrives." That was some more flawed logic on my part.

Kate and I had to split up to get through the security check. Kate also had a purse so she needed to go through a slower line. Before going our separate ways we came up with a estimated location on the other side to meet. There is a big Bank of America insignia and I was going to wait for her on the other side of it. It started to rain lightly just before I got through. I was already feeling pretty bad at this point, knowing that Kate was going to be cold, potentially wet, and that I had been disgruntled for the last leg of the drive in. Kate's line was taking quite a while. The rain seemed to let up for a bit "Oh good!" I thought. Again, it was premature.

I could hear the onslaught before it hit. It sounded like gravel screaming down from the sky and hitting anything in its way, getting louder as it got closer. Then it hit me, and it hit me like a wall. The rain stung, and in seconds I was drenched. Some reports claim there was hail mixed in. A few lucky people had the foresight to bring ponchos or trash bags to wear. Not me. The rain came down so hard and so fast that it just built up on the cement and was about two inches deep. I looked down at the frantic drops chaotically colliding with the flowing ground. Occasionally I would frantically look around for Kate with a grimace on my face. The rain almost died off completely and finally Kate came through, very wet and sad.

Apparently there was quite a bit of pushing when the rain started. Additionally the Gillette people tried to take her umbrella away claiming that she might use it to go on a killing spree. Kate managed to hide it away in her purse before and they gave up pursuit. Kate had several seconds of umbrella time so she was probably in better shape than I was.... but not much. I was so wet, I might has well have jumped in a lake. I was squeezing the water out of my shirt and t-shirt.

The show of course had been delayed by this point because of the storm. We lingered around not know quite where to go or what to do. Kate had to use the rest room and so I waited in a courtyard next to some concession stands. I could see the long line to the women's room. Yes poor Kate had indeed told me she needed to use the rest room. There were some portable toilets outside that had no wait, but I ridiculously in my never ending stream of bad judgement thought the wait probably wouldn't be too bad inside. I probably would have been right had we not had the torrential down pour.... none the less... the err in judgement was made. I stood there head down looking at my wet feet in the middle of the bustling people running around. I'm sure I must have looked quite pathetic, and I felt really bad, like I could have almost cried. I looked up at the line and there was Kate right in queue to enter, and she was looking right at me. When we locked eyes she raised her eyebrows at me and sort of smiled with her eyes in a way that said "lighten up, don't worry about a thing!" With that simple gesture Kate made me feel like a million dollars.

Eventually we bravely made our way up into the stands. The final disappointment of the evening was the seats. While they definitely could have been worse, I had certainly been misled to think that I was in the mezzanine or mid-level by Ticketmaster, when I was up in the top tier... perhaps the lower half of the top tier, but the top tier none the less. Additionally we seemed to near by a handful of rowdy drunks (the kind of guys that remind you of junk yard dogs). One of them was so smashed he even managed to fall backwards down a couple of rows of seats. If you've ever been to Gillette and seen how steep it is you can imagine how much of a scare this gave everyone. When Bruce finally did start the show he began it appropriately with "The Summer time Blues". A couple of songs later he performed a cover of CCR's "who'll stop the rain". I'm certain the E street band has these little gems saved up especially for occasions like these. When he began working the crowd it was magic. The stage was enormous and Bruce walked all over it engaging people when ever possible. He let the women grab his ass and he took requests on big hand drawn signs. We could see a lot of the action close up with the help of two jumbo trons shaped like upside down "T"s on either side of the stage. Usually they just used the lower sections, but on certain songs they would employ the entire screens which was a pretty neat effect. When Bruce performed "Radio Nowhere" a song Kate likes in particular I glanced at her and she was smiling, and I knew then and there that my concept of Springsteen's charisma had not been exaggerated. And not just Bruce, but the entire force that is the E Street Band. Although we were cold and wet, shivering in a breeze high in the air, somehow we were having a good time. We hugged each other side by side to stay warm letting go only to applaud.

When the encore began I told Kate that we should try to make our way downstairs so we can leave and beat the traffic. If we wanted to when we got to the bridge on the eastern side of the field we could watch the remnants of the show and get a quick escape. When we got to the bridge Bruce was finishing "Jungleland" and the opening notes of "Born to Run" began and I knew we had to stay for at least that song, because if it lived up to the previous time I had seen it performed it would be great. Kate said later on to me that it was one of the highlights of the show. We left midway through "Glory Days" thinking it was the last song, but we could hear him play about two more as we were rushing to the car.

Still very wet, I had the heat on full blast until we were back on Rt. 93.

Despite things not going as planned, it will definitely be a night to remember.

As for the rest of the weekend? Well it rained some more. We had to scratch a beach day but we went to Newburyport and had dinner and tried to make the best of it.

What are you going to do? Eh?

Article on the show: Boss brings thunder to 50,000 at Gillette