I've started posting entries from my honeymoon journal, with links to photos. Check it out.
December 23, 2004
Near-miss holiday disaster
So, I was running around trying to finish up a few last minute things before going to bed, one of which was the laundry. I get back to my building (the laundry room is in the next building) and discover I've locked my keys in the laundry room, and I'm stuck out in the pouring rain. I try ringing the doorbells of everyone in the building with the laundry room. Nothing. No answer. Of course, it's Christmas Eve tomorrow. Ugh. I try to keep from thinking of the horror scenario. (Everyone's out of town; no one lets me in; I miss my flight; I have no ID, no money, no phone. Okay, enough of that. Get a hold of yourself, man!)
I run back outside and spot a few people on the street and ask them if they have a key to the laundry room building. They all look at me with suspicion and shrug and say "no" or "not on me". I explain what's happened, then turn around, frustrated, and walk down the street looking up at the apartments in all the buildings for lights on, i.e., who's home that I can ring?
I spot some lights on in my building and head in to start my ringing. Just as I get back inside, one of the people I saw standing outside raps on the window and waves for me to come out. He says, "I went up and got me keys." So, he lets me in and I thank him several times and introduce myself. He introduces himself as Tak (not sure of the spelling).
Thanks again Tak. You made my night...
Posted by Geoff at 9:15 PM | Comments (0)
Ready for the holidays?
I'm finally ready for my holiday break. I finished my shopping very early this year -- before December started! I've now finished packing my luggage and reserved my airport shuttle ride (although I forgot about it until the last minute, then had a bit of a panic over it ;-) ). I'll be away in sunny Minneapolis, Minnesota, where it's expected to be about -6 F (windchill -18 F) when I arrive tomorrow at 10am. BR-R-R-R!
In spite of the cold, I'm really looking forward to spending time with family and friends. I'll be there through the New Year and back on Monday, the 3rd. I will help my youngest brother, John, celebrate his 25th birthday this year on New Year's Eve (he was born on New Year's Day) in Winona, MN, where he and his wife Amanda live.
I'm also planning to hang out with one of my best friends from high school, Jeff, and hopefully see his wife Jessica and their daughter Jeannie.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
Posted by Geoff at 5:57 PM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2004
More snow...
I woke up to blowing snow and cold (15F) this morning. It messed up the streets a bit and snowed-in some of the western suburbs. It was the coldest day yet, and now it's 7F with a windchill of -12F. Looks like it probably won't be a white Christmas in Boston -- it's supposed to be in the 50s by Thursday. I'll be in Minnesota, however, where it's supposed to be near 0F, with possible snow on Christmas day.
Posted by Geoff at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)
I'm in love...
On Sunday, I went to try out a couple of Godin guitars at a music shop near my apartment with my friend Michael who had talked them up previously. I'd never seen or played one before. I wish I had taken his advice sooner. I think these were the best guitars I've ever played. (WARNING: here's where it gets technical:)
All three of the models I tried have both coil pickups and piezo-electric (for an acoustic-like tone), with separate outputs for each. Two of them (Montreal and Flat Five) have semi-hollow bodies. One has a synth output in addition to the pickups, and has a third single-coil for a Strat style tone. All of this made for some of the most versatile sounding guitars -- they sound great for jazz, blues, rock. They are also extremely playable and very well balanced (not to mention pretty lightweight).
The most amazing part is the price -- all are under $1400. The solid body was less than $900. Now I realize that might sound like a lot of money, but consider this: the decent Gibson Les Paul's start at around $900, and are no where near as featureful and nice as the Godin's -- plus Les Pauls are notoriously heavy.
The top-of-the-line Les Pauls might look nicer than the Godins (debatable), but I can't believe they sound any better or are more playable than these Godins, and they cost upwards of $5000 (you can go as high as $13,000 for a Jimmy Page signature model!).
Anyway, I've rambled long enough. I think I know what my next guitar will be... :)
Posted by Geoff at 10:53 PM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2004
Met Darek and Joanna
Darek is one of Grant's room mates in Ithaca and is a Cornell University visiting scholar from Poland. I met him when I visited there a couple of weeks ago.
He is currently on winter break and visiting his wife, Joanna, who is on a fellowship at Harvard Law School. We met for dinner/beer last night at Cambridge Common, which is near Harvard. I had a nice time talking to them about many things from Eskimos and the role of alcohol in successful societies to differences in law between Europe and the U.S.; fishing and hunting to restaurant recommendations in New York City.
They encouraged me to visit Warsaw, Poland, and other parts of central Europe, which I may very well do at some point. I encouraged them to visit the Grand Canyon and Grimaldi's Pizzeria in NYC. Darek will be in Boston until Jan 10, then flies to Poland for a week, then back to Ithaca. Joanna and Darek will both return to Poland in June. I hope to meet them again sometime. Perhaps in Warsaw... :)
Posted by Geoff at 11:00 AM | Comments (2)
December 15, 2004
Winter is here in Boston
This morning felt the coldest this season. The Weather Channel says it's 22 F right now, but the wind makes it feel like the 'teens. I guess we've been pretty lucky until now. It's been mostly 40s and 50s until this week.
Posted by Geoff at 10:43 AM | Comments (4)
December 14, 2004
Pedro leaves the Red Sox
It's official: Pedro Martinez has accepted an offer from the New York Mets. The only difference from the Red Sox offer was a guaranteed fourth year. It's too bad. Like many other Red Sox fans, I wish he'd stay in Boston, but I think it was the right decision for Pedro and for both teams.
Pedro is still a great pitcher, but his performance this season was less stellar than in the past. Four years is a long time in an athlete's career, particularly a 33-year old athlete. Pedro may very well have four years left in him, but to guarantee to pay him for that long is risky, especially for a team that already has a great lineup in addition to a strong starting rotation. Curt Schilling will hopefully be recovered from his injury early in the season if not on opening day. Former-Yankee, David Wells, signed on to the Red Sox this week. Other key players from the World Championship team are staying: David Ortiz, Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller, Mark Bellhorn, Keith Foulke, Bronson Arroyo, Tim Wakefield. Negotiations with Orlando Cabrera and Jason Varitek are still open. The Red Sox are still a great team without
The New York Mets, on the other hand, have suffered from a poor record for many years. Signing Pedro for four years is worth the risk to get a great starting pitcher and start to build the team back up.
Pedro did what any pitcher in his shoes would. He went for the better offer. We may not like to hear it, but money is important to the players. So is the length of the contract. We like to say things like, "If I had as much money as he had, I wouldn't leave the Red Sox just to get more money or one more guaranteed season," but if we were really in his shoes, would we have really done things any differently?
Pedro's hometown certainly isn't New York or Boston. He's Dominican. He may have enjoyed playing here in Boston, but perhaps his ties to this town go no deeper than the seven seasons he's played here. He wants to keep playing as long as he can, and Mets are offering a longer contract at the same rate as Boston. Why wouldn't he take it?
Posted by Geoff at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)
December 11, 2004
2004 Boston Fireworks Photos
I finally got my Fourth of July fireworks photos up on the web. These are the four that turned out the best. I took about 45 total -- I need a tripod if I want to get better results. :) There's also short video clip available if you have Apple Quicktime.
Did I mention I love JAlbum? :) There's some really nice templates available, and JAlbum has a lot of flexibility built in to the GUI. And if you know some HTML, you can tweak the layout and colors as well. Very cool.
Posted by Geoff at 12:56 PM | Comments (0)
JAlbum Rocks!
Tonight I tried out JAlbum, a software tool for building web photo albums. Verdict: it's very cool -- and the best part is it's free.
The GUI is easy to use (abiet a little cluttered). Just drag your photo folder onto the JAlbum window and click Make Album. It reduces your photos and makes thumbnails. Next use the "Publish" feature to upload your new album to your web site (via FTP). It supports "skins", or templates, for album layouts. You can find lots of free skins online -- some of them using cool animated Flash and javascript -- or create your own.
The documentation is very complete. There are tutorials for using JAlbum, creating your own skins, or if you're a programmer, even embedding JAlbum in your own Java application.
I'm sold. Check out my first JAlbum-based album of photos from my trip to Cornell to visit my friend Grant. (Bear with me -- some of the photos need some touching up, but I've sorted through them and picked my favorites.)
Posted by Geoff at 12:43 AM | Comments (0)
December 7, 2004
NEW-kya-ler
Meriam-Webster's Word of the Day today is something our President seems skilled at using:
epenthesis • \ih-PEN-thuh-siss\ • noun
: the insertion or development of a sound or letter in the body of a word
His pronunciation of "nuclear" is a common (and annoying) example.
Others are "ath-a-lete" and "FAM-blee". An English linguist explains and is sympathetic to its use, if not actually condoning it.
Enjoy :)
Posted by Geoff at 2:39 PM | Comments (0)
December 6, 2004
Hey, let me try this!
Here I am again, trying this blogging thing. The last time I tried, I just sort of fell off after a few weeks. Hopefully, I'll keep it up for a bit longer this time...
Anyway, I just got back from a weekend trip to Ithaca, NY, to visit my friend Grant, who is studying for his master's at Cornell. I got some great photos of the waterfalls and gorges (which I'll put up here soon). I also met a bunch of Grant's new friends at a party Saturday. All-in-all, I enjoyed the trip, and as usual wished I had more time.
Well, I wouldn't want to burn out on my first day back to blogging. So, good night! :)
Posted by Geoff at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)