I’m heading to Minneapolis tonight for a long weekend vacation.
I’m staying with my friend Jordan who I last saw in February in Chicago. I also plan on visiting my cousin Lori and her family. I haven’t seen them in a couple years, if I recall correctly. My friends Andy and Lou recently moved to the Twin Cities, so I plan on spending a bit of time with them, as well.
Overall, I’m expecting to have a good, relaxing time with everyone, and hope to get some good photos.
Ciao!
It was a bit of a fiasco getting to Kansas City, but it was a lot more relaxed once I got there. I had a good fun and it was really great to spend some time with Mac, who I haven’t seen in a good year and a half.
Good times included eating just about every ethnic food one could have in a weekend: Chinese, Thai, Indian, and Mexican. We also spent a good part of an afternoon at the University of Kansas, where I took a bunch of photos. It reminded me a lot of Bloomington, actually, and I had no idea it was so hilly. I assumed it was all flat!
Here are some snapshots.
Another highlight was making it into Kansas City itself to see the Plaza, which is this outdoor shopping mall created back in the 1920s. Here are some shots from the area, but nothing specific of the mall itself. I guess I forgot to take pictures.
The last highlight I want to mention is that we saw Iron Man at the movie theatre Friday night. I thought it was a fantastic movie (except for the blatant product placements). I highly recommend it if you feel like hitting the movies in the near future.
Photo Set: Kansas City - May 2008
Today, after visiting with my family, I went downtown with my camera. It’s been a long time since I’ve spent time walking around our many urban green spaces.
On my way home, I dropped by Steph and Stephanie’s house in the Old Northside. My friend Jonathan was there with his two dogs, Jackson and Jefferson, having a cookout with them. Not too long after my arrival, Dan and Doug showed up to pay a visit, too.
As it was getting dark, Stephanie decided to make some brownies. Have I ever talked about how much I love chocolate?
Anyway, at about that time, Steph and I started obsessing over history, architecture, etc. It turns out she has an historic postcard collection of Indianapolis just like me! Sometime soon she and I will have to do some card trading. Nothing fancy — just your average nerd fun.
After getting home tonight, I watched the Darjeeling Limited. I’m definitely a fan of little esoteric films like that. Have you seen it? What did you think?
I finally have some grown-up furniture here in my condo.
I asked Andy P. and Laura to model for me.
Is it bad that I’m writing this nearly a month since I was in Las Vegas?
Yes, it is, but I’m still going to do it.
To be honest, there isn’t a ton to report. The majority of the rest of my time in Las Vegas was spent working in a cold, loud data center cramped for space with some of my co-workers.
Fortunately, I had time to see more of my friends out there: Rick and Allison. Rick and I have known each other for years online, but didn’t get a chance to hang out until recently. Allison used to be my manager when I worked for ExchangeNet in Cleveland way back in 1998. It was great to see them both!
In conclusion, I’m convinced that I wouldn’t visit Las Vegas if it weren’t for my job. I can’t really see myself visiting there otherwise, except for the people I know, but at least I got a chance to experience Las Vegas a little bit and add it to the list of places I’ve seen.
I had a great time at the Freezepop concert this past Friday. They put on a good show, with lots of high energy and cheesy synth-pop beats. I had the pleasure of being kept company by Andy and Laura who I think also had a good time.
Saturday was a family day, for the most part. It was my nephew Jake’s 17 birthday and the whole family got together for it. My sister and brother-in-law from Louisville even brought their parrot for the party.
After we sang “Happy Birthday!” and ate ice cream cake, I took Jake to Fry’s up on 96th Street to buy him a new keyboard and mouse for his new computer that we built a few weeks ago. This set was the replace the old, nasty set he had been using.
Saturday night was also a good time. After working a bunch in the afternoon, I met up with my friend Pete for some late dinner at the Old Point Tavern. After sharing a huge plate of nachos and downing a few mixed drinks, we did the obvious thing and went over to the homo bar — to drink some more, of course.
I ran into all kinds of people I knew. What I don’t remember, for sure, is the reason why I was in a face-slapping contest with my friend Carlos. Oh well!
The rest of my weekend was mostly work and sleep, which seem to cancel each other out, as far as I’m concerned.
Last weekend I was in Chicago, and I forgot to say anything about it!
Good times were had, including dancing at Berlin on Beltmon, real Ukrainian food at Sak’s, Millennium Park, wine drinking, tea drinking, and even some brunch.
Photo Set: Chicago - February 2008
Tonight I met up with Daniel up on the north side for dinner and a movie.
Dinner was at Thai Taste up in Castleton. We both had curry dishes (me the panang; Daniel the red) and loved them, followed by mango ice cream and rum cake. Mmm!
Afterwards, we went to see The Mist at the movie theatre. All I’m going to say is that it’s a very, very well-written movie, but I feel messed up after seeing it. It reminds me of when I saw Se7en back years ago.
Anyway, if you like Stephen King, you’ll love this movie. If you don’t like him, well, you should see it anyway since it’s a good film none-the-less.
I don’t have tons to report here, but here are a few important things to document.
That’s all for now.
Ever since I got back from my bi-coastal vacation last month, we’ve been crazy busy at work on projects related to our data center migration and preparations for the big software release. Finally, all of this hard work came to a climax this past weekend, which means that things ought to start settling down (read: no more long work days and weekends for a while). I think we’re finally over the hump!
So, to close out Hell Month™, I participated in my good buddy Andy’s last vestige of freedom: his bachelor party. We saw Lewis Black perform and hit some bars and clubs, afterwards. Like a dumbass, I completely forgot the camera, so the only photo I have to share is this awful picture of me at the Old Point Tavern. Anyway, the evening was tons of fun and I drank way more booze than I have in a long time. I don’t think I’ve talked so much in a long time, either. Seriously! Someone should have told me to shut up.
As far as this coming week is concerned, I’m going to see They Might Be Giants at the Vogue, and then it’s Andy’s wedding on Saturday.
Wee!
A lot has been happening lately.
At work, we’ve been very busy preparing to move our data center here in Indianapolis to a newer, bigger location (not far from the old one, either). I’ve been extremely involved on the networking side of things, especially our load balancers.
We had a big maintenance outage Friday night that had me working until 4:30 AM. I worked a full day and then came back at 9:30 PM. Whew! It’s been a long time since I’ve had one of those days, but I made it through just fine. On bad note, it’s thrown off my sleep schedule this weekend, so I need to get myself to sleep on time tonight or I’ll be all kinds of messed up tomorrow at work.
In other news, Thursday night I went out with Chris M. for Mexican food and a movie. The food wasn’t all that great, but the movie was fun. I scored some free tickets from work to for the Heartland Film Festival, so we went and saw Lars and the Real Girl.
I really loved the movie, though one thing bothered me and it wasn’t the movie itself, but the audience. You know when there’s something happening on the screen that isn’t funny, but some people laugh anyway? There are some scenes closer to the end of the movie that are actually serious and emotional, but they laugh. Maybe they don’t get it? Maybe laughing is just their way of dealing with the serious nature of the subject matter? Hmm. I don’t know, but I do think it says a lot about the person.
This afternoon I’m visiting my family. Haven’t seen them in a while. Bad son!
Whew! Two weeks in San Francisco and New York can really take a lot out of you, but I have to admit that I had a fantastic time!
Traveling with me were my friends John and Shaun from England. I’ve known John for a couple of years and spent time with him when I was in the UK back in January, which is when I met Shaun. For this trip, we all met up at JFK Airport in New York before flying out west.
Everything was fine traveling, but John had problems with his ears. He had a cold a few days prior to flying and had mucous build up in his inner ear due to the air pressure changes This caused him a lot of pain and resulted in an ear infection, but he went to the doctor and got everything cleared up a few days before leaving San Francisco.
In San Francisco we stayed at the Castro Suites which is run by Joel and Sam who have been together since 1964. They have some great stories to tell, too. The apartment they provided was very nice and affordable, and located a couple of blocks from Market Street and the main Castro district.
My friend Jason M. came to spend some time with us and take us around in his car. We drove along Highway 1 to Monterey to visit the aquarium, which was cool, but it sure took a long time to drive down there. We also took a trip up to San Rafael to see Dan L. who then took us down to the Marin Headlands.
Other highlights of our stay in San Francisco include many visits to Daddy’s and The Lone Star Saloon; attending a concert performed by the San Francisco Symphony; spending a few hours in Golden Gate Park; and, lastly, a ride on one of the cable cars, on our way up to Fisherman’s Wharf in a failed attempt to get tickets to Alcatraz.
After spending a week in San Francisco, it was time to head out to New York for the second half of our vacation. Our accommodations in the Big Apple were in an apartment at 14th Street and Third Avenue, which put us at the northern extent of the East Village and a close walk to lots of cool stuff.
I realized while in New York that I really dislike Midtown Manhattan, specifically the areas around the Empire State Building and Times Square. It’s just too much; too touristy, too beige and boring for me. I agree with my friend Devin who said that it’s like being in a whole different city.
Anyway, the three of us had dinner with Devin, Bryan, and Doug at Mercadito in Greenwich Village. It’s a Mexican tapas restaurant, and all we did was fill up on a few different kinds of guacamole and several kinds of tacos. Oh so very delicious! I’d go eat there this very second, if I could.
What else did we do? Well, we spent time visiting the Empire State Building, Times Square, F.A.O. Schwartz, the Apple Store, the Guggenheim Museum, Grand Central Station, the World Trade Center site, the Brooklyn Bridge, and did a bit of shopping here and there.
I had a really good time with the British guys, but all good things must eventually come to an end. I returned back to work the day after I got home; it’s nice to be back home and amongst all the familiar things in life.
Photo Set: San Francisco - 2007
Photo Set: New York - 2007
Last weekend was busy.
Friday night was the opening of my friend Tony’s one-man show: Lies My Parents Told Me. We all really enjoyed the show, especially me, and I’m proud that Tony was finally able to pull it off. It’s been in the works for a couple of years. Check out the review linked below.
Review: Lies My Parents Told Me
It’s running until September 22, so check it out!
Saturday afternoon was spent with Andy and Laura. Another friend of theirs threw a wedding shower (gender inclusive) in Craig Park down in Greenwood.
It’s a fiesta!
Afterwards, we went and had some drinks and hit the movie theatre. We ended up seeing Bourne Ultimatum, which wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I wouldn’t call it amazing, but it was fun and kept me drawn into the story.
On Sunday, I went with my family to a fish fry put on by some old friends of the family. They lived a few houses down from where I grew up. Their sons and I were very good friends when we were younger, especially Eric.
Photo Set: Browns’ Fish Fry
Bess is quite vicious when you scare her while trying to get her off the desk.
Go figure, right?
So, yeah, my weekend was good, otherwise.
Lisa, Jim, and Rey came up from Louisville to see some of the Fringe Festival on Saturday. The one show we all really enjoyed was Stand-Up Monkey Poet by Matt Panesh from Manchester, England. Everyone found his performance to be intelligent, witty, and hilarious.
YouTube: Matt Panesh - Monkey Poet, Live @ the Royal Exchange Theatre
After the Louisville crew headed home, I spent a bunch of time with Andy P. and Laura. Whenever I spend time with them, I’m reminded how much of a great couple they make, and it makes me a bit jealous; however, I adore them both and look forward to their wedding in November.
Last — but not least — I got to spend a lot of time with Daniel. His primary reason for visiting Indiana was to see his family, but he took spare time Friday night and Sunday to spend time with yours truly. I’m glad he made time to hang out because I probably won’t get to see him again until November.
