Andreas Matern’s Weblog

Home again after a wonderful vacation in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.  Now, its back to life, back to reality. 

Before I got to reality, however, I picked up Zelda (gift from Mike), Guitar Hero and Mario Kart all for our Wii.  I’ve been so freakin’ busy today this post has been sitting here since about 11:00 am.  I guess it will have to do. 

Having a Friday before my birthday beer, listening to Pearl Jam, got chills running down my spine thanks to the live version of Release Me.

1.9 days might be a bit excessive though.

I was thinking about pizza the other day, as I do miss Raimo’s, when I’ve been bombarded by reminders that certain areas of the world are famous for their food for a reason. My point? New York has the best pizza and bagels in the world. You heard me. I know that the French Dip comes from Los Angeles, but I don’t care. When I want pizza in Boston, I go to Emmas - but Emma’s is gourmet pizza, not a ‘regular’ piece of pepperoni. However, I’ve recently found the Real Deal in West Roxbury, and that’s some good ‘za. Our other choice is the Pleasant Cafe in Roslindale, a decent slice of ‘za, but still nothing compares to my Raimo’s.

Yesterday was just gorgeous out, and we went for a nice after work walk to Jamaica Pond. Then we grilled steaks outside on the BBQ. Oh wonders of late Spring/early Summer! Tonight we’re going to Ten Tables in JP to celebrate my aging process, and Saturday I’m regretfully off to London for a week of work. Don’t know how often I’ll be updating. I have a bunch of stuff on my camera that I need to unload, and holy host of work to finish before landing in London.

I found this from Neil Gaiman’s blog - haunting, creepy, and beautiful.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend….

Opening Day today for the Red Sox, and they have some fine weather!  Too bad I’ll be in the freakin’ office all day - I really wanted to sneak out and sit in a pub with wireless to watch and work!  Maybe I’ll try the mlb.com radio…. but $15.00?  I might just go to Best Buy and get an inexpensive little radio to listen to.  Would love to listen on WEEI, but they are not allowed to stream their Sox broadcasts.

I took the “T” to work today, thereby reducing my carbon footprint, and, more importantly, requiring only one car (and one designated driver) for our anniversary dinner tonight at Troquet. 

So much is happening today, even Starbucks is introducing a new coffee:  Pike Place Roast.  Al of their cups are sporting a new logo (or is it their 1971 logo)? 

From their e-mail:

Introducing our new, daily brew - Pike Place Roast.
Roasted fresh, ground fresh and brewed fresh. Our smoothest coffee
ever.  Come celebrate the launch of our newest brew. Visit your
local Starbucks today at noon Eastern / 9 a.m. Pacific, sharp, and
join us for a special coffee tasting of a freshly brewed cup.

Two more tracks are up on rileysmile.com - Fifty Seven Starts at the End and Fifty Five Knows Nothing About Limits.  Check them out if you like funky dance tracks.

Another work day finally winds down.  I had a fantastic weekend - Friday dinner with Friends, Saturday dinner for friends at our house, Sunday dinner for me at the In-laws.  Life is good.  I got Monster Seats for my birthday!  I got Super Mario Galaxy!  I got fancy pants wine and cool retro salt and pepper shakers!  I got … hell, I got a lot of stuff.  (Red Sox gloves! Steak Sauce!)  But honestly the best part of the weekend was hanging out with folks. 

Busy work week ahead.  Like most weeks it would appear as if the time allotted to do everything I have to do is not nearly enough.  Tomorrow’s the anniversary, and I’m psyched to try Troquet.  Friday’s at Ten Tables for my birthday, and again, if you live in Boston and haven’t been, you are really missing a treat.

Not at all excited about leaving for London on Saturday.  That is just cruel and unusual punishment in my book.  Will be interesting to see how well I hold up for the flight back to Boston on Thursday, followed by a Friday morning flight on vacation.  Ah, vacation.  That is going to be most heinously awesome.

The Random Vandal has resurfaced.  I am a big fan, I hope s/he keeps up the good work. 

Our bathroom at work is broken, I wonder if this is the cause

this is just a test

Now that’s a great slogan!

This week is coming to an end, thank God!  Stephanie gets back from CA today, and I am very excited to see her!  We’ll have dinner at Troquet on Tuesday for our 2nd anniversary.  Wow, two years sure have gone fast, and I still feel like a newlywed.  When does the newlywed thing go away?

Going to dinner at M&M’s tonight, then a party (for me!) on Saturday at our house, followed by dinner (for me!) at the Fensterhouse on Sunday.  I’m hoping that all then goes smooth until my trip to London (for work) and Tennessee (for fun) later this month.

Speaking of later this month, who isn’t excited about Mariokart for the Wii?  I should probably get to work soon, eh?  But it is so dismal outside, I just want to curl up on the couch and watch TV.  The house is a mess, though.  I should have woken up early, done the ball fitness thing and then cleaned my heart out, but instead I’m enjoying my coffee, staring out the window.

Next week I might try and go to Westport Rivers for their wine dinner.  Found that through slow-food-boston an organization I’d like to get more involved in, but when will I find the time?

OK procrastination is officially over.

Happy April 1.  We lost power last night, so I woke up a little later than I would have liked.  The construction vehicles are doing a great job ripping up the fire hydrants they installed over the summer.  No warning, just signs out last night saying that there will be construction until April 14. 

Found this great post on The Boat Lullabies called “On the Sorrows of the Plains” and the close ups just kill me.  This teacher is obviously having a bad day:

The muxtape experiment is working great for me, even though I haven’t posted anything there yet.  Right now I’m checking out tinylasers, which is making me laugh in my cube.  Better this music than the people who only have one volume setting - super freakin’  loud.

Planted seedlings last night, which was a fun time for me.  Because I’m a gardening geek. 

I’m in super procrastination mode.  I have two demos to give this week, and they have both moved up by a day or two.  However, I think I’m out of travel for this week, so I’m hoping to go to the ICA to see Mike Mignola, the writer, creator and artist of the Hellboy character.   I need to figure out what I’m doing when for the rest of the week, without my planner here, I’m a bit lost!

Maybe I’ll get some super powers…. anywho, I got one April Fool’s e-mail so far today, feel free to read it if you’d like…. but it is a Poets.org April Fool.

Read the rest of this entry »