didya miss me?
I realized the other day that I'd neglected to update this journal for far too long. A whole lot happened in the interim, and most of it was fun, but don't expect any details other than the few that managed to stick in my brain. Which basically means that all you get is details on travel and moving.
I spent the weekend of my birthday hanging out in Boston. I drove there, and got lost immediately, of course. I eventually arrived in Cambridge and was greeted warmly; Matt told me he had found a great recipe for a pound cake, which he was in the middle of baking. Being a smart-ass, I replied along these lines: "Oh yeah, I know that recipe too: 'A pound of flour, a pound of sugar, a pound of butter, a pound of eggs...'" I took his odd expression to mean he was confused, as if he didn't get my (admittedly poor) joke. But something far worse was afoot - Matt had slipped the chains of sanity and had allowed himself to become convinced that a recipe for pound cake should contain nowhere near a pound of anything. In between calling all right-thinking chefs "barbarians" and other fits of apoplexy, Matt produced what I coined an "eight-ounce cake" (the name stuck), which was very much like an angel-food cake. It tasted good, but if you promise me "pound cake", I expect a confection with heft, milquetoast. The rest of the weekend was exemplary, the food and the company were both well worth the trip.
I have just recently moved - upstairs. The landlord and his wife were expecting (I assume their child has now been born), so they moved out of the (much nicer) upstairs apartment, and we moved in. Three nursing students are in the process of moving into our old apartment, and they're taking their time. I think only one of them actually lives here currently, and I never see any of them. No housemate problems yet, but one of the girls left the house unlocked today - I hope it's just a solitary incident.
I spent a glorious Memorial Day in Maine, hanging out with the 'rents, Pat, and Marisa. I did a bunch of cooking to bond with Mom, and Pop got to lend me some technical advice as I tried out his D70 (which is a lot of fun to use). I flew, and the experience is almost enough to have me swear off driving on trips longer than 400 miles. It's an enormous convenience; I've done the round-trip drive to Maine enough times that I could do it in my sleep, but less time wasted on travel and more time spent on vacation is worth the cost of a plane ticket.
On that note, I'll be flying into BWI 6/16/06 (a Friday) around noon to spend the weekend with my brother and the DC crew celebrating his belated birthday. He turns 24 on the 10th, but he's being dragged to a wedding that weekend. Plans for this trip include crabs steamed in beer with Bay Spice, going bowling with Pat, and a trip to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (where the Air & Space Museum keeps all the cool stuff they can't fit in the main building). Everything else is up in the air, and I'll be in town until Monday night (the 19th), so drop me a line if you're in the area.
Additional vacation notes: I've taken the week of July 10th off from work to go to Potter's camp in the Adirondacks. No exact dates yet on when I'll depart or return, but that's only because Potter himself doesn't know when he'll be at the camp.
That's all for now. Hopefully you'll hear from me again this calendar year.
I spent the weekend of my birthday hanging out in Boston. I drove there, and got lost immediately, of course. I eventually arrived in Cambridge and was greeted warmly; Matt told me he had found a great recipe for a pound cake, which he was in the middle of baking. Being a smart-ass, I replied along these lines: "Oh yeah, I know that recipe too: 'A pound of flour, a pound of sugar, a pound of butter, a pound of eggs...'" I took his odd expression to mean he was confused, as if he didn't get my (admittedly poor) joke. But something far worse was afoot - Matt had slipped the chains of sanity and had allowed himself to become convinced that a recipe for pound cake should contain nowhere near a pound of anything. In between calling all right-thinking chefs "barbarians" and other fits of apoplexy, Matt produced what I coined an "eight-ounce cake" (the name stuck), which was very much like an angel-food cake. It tasted good, but if you promise me "pound cake", I expect a confection with heft, milquetoast. The rest of the weekend was exemplary, the food and the company were both well worth the trip.
I have just recently moved - upstairs. The landlord and his wife were expecting (I assume their child has now been born), so they moved out of the (much nicer) upstairs apartment, and we moved in. Three nursing students are in the process of moving into our old apartment, and they're taking their time. I think only one of them actually lives here currently, and I never see any of them. No housemate problems yet, but one of the girls left the house unlocked today - I hope it's just a solitary incident.
I spent a glorious Memorial Day in Maine, hanging out with the 'rents, Pat, and Marisa. I did a bunch of cooking to bond with Mom, and Pop got to lend me some technical advice as I tried out his D70 (which is a lot of fun to use). I flew, and the experience is almost enough to have me swear off driving on trips longer than 400 miles. It's an enormous convenience; I've done the round-trip drive to Maine enough times that I could do it in my sleep, but less time wasted on travel and more time spent on vacation is worth the cost of a plane ticket.
On that note, I'll be flying into BWI 6/16/06 (a Friday) around noon to spend the weekend with my brother and the DC crew celebrating his belated birthday. He turns 24 on the 10th, but he's being dragged to a wedding that weekend. Plans for this trip include crabs steamed in beer with Bay Spice, going bowling with Pat, and a trip to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (where the Air & Space Museum keeps all the cool stuff they can't fit in the main building). Everything else is up in the air, and I'll be in town until Monday night (the 19th), so drop me a line if you're in the area.
Additional vacation notes: I've taken the week of July 10th off from work to go to Potter's camp in the Adirondacks. No exact dates yet on when I'll depart or return, but that's only because Potter himself doesn't know when he'll be at the camp.
That's all for now. Hopefully you'll hear from me again this calendar year.