Day off; More beer and more cigars; Chaos; Band practice; Another day off; New toy; M:I; Cinco; Beach party; Under the weather
5/1
Considering that some people take a full week off after their committee meetings, I felt justified in taking a week off. The boss was out of town, and my first priority was editing a paper, which I could at least look like I was doing from home.
It was glorious.
Char decided that he wanted to do a proper smoking night, so I made my first trip to the Briar Shoppe to get some pipe tobacco for Char and Angela, and cigars for Cindy and I. The girl working the counter seemed a little surprised that I was asking for suggestions, but was willing to help. I ended up with a Java "wafer" (pressed somewhat flat) cigar for Cindy. For myself, I picked up the suggested Jose Seijas special edition manufactured by Tabacalera De Garcia, the last one they had. I bought a Macanudo just in case.
Cindy and I went over to Char's that evening, and we had a nice laid back time sitting in their back yard enjoying our various tobacco products. I was probably most impressed with the Java that Cindy had (Becca finished off the remains of it when I was in Austin and liked it). Mine was enjoyable, but I don't know, maybe it was too serious of a cigar for me. In the end, it kicked my ass and made me more than a bit nauseous, so we eventually made our exit.
5/2
One of the monthly computational biology talks was given by Dr. James Yorke who coined the term "Chaos", up in the med center's one and only fancy restaurant, Trevisio. The lecture was sort of scattered but had some nice bits. Afterwards, there was beer, wine, and the ubiquitous cheese/fruit trays.
5/3
I had twice before attempted to sit in on one of Vincent and Jeff's jam sessions. Jeff plays rhythm/lead guitar, and Vincent plays bass/rhythm guitar. Since Jeff bought me a nifty USB MIDI keyboard for my birthday last year, I actually had something that I'm (in theory) capable of playing. I plug it into the PowerBook, fire up Garage Band, and have a nice selection of software instruments (and, potentially, loops) to play around with, though I pretty much stick to grand piano, electric piano, clavinova, and organ.
So in this first session, I pretty much stuck to playing one-handed chords (or worse, the roots of the chords). I had to look up a few things (completely forgot what a 7th chord is, for example) and review a few scales. Overall, it was a rocky start, but I had fun.
5/4
The next round (and most highly anticipated) of my stereo upgrade was due to arrive via FedEx, so I elected to work from home, and this time actually did so.
This was almost rendered moot by the lazy-ass FedEx triver, who couldn't be bothered to do something as trivial as try to deliver the package to my actual door; instead the bastard just took it straight to the office. Thankfully, I checked the tracking page (an hour after it had actually arrived), and realized it was there. So I went and picked them up, assembled them, hooked them up, and took a listen. Again, more on that later.
Will wanted to catch the midnight showing of Mission: Impossible 3, so Cindy and I met up early for dinner and I introduced her to the wonderful thing that is Pei Wei. We split an order of their new (since the last time I went, which was some time ago) pork lettuce wraps, which were a nice variation on the original chicken dish, which substitued butter lettuce (a nice complement to the other flavors) and added some pineapple (also a nice complement to the pork), and maybe did away with the mushrooms. We also split an order of Blazing Noodles, which weren't particularly blazing, and were enjoyable, but probably not somethign I'll order again any time soon.
Cindy ran an errand at Half Price Books, we came by my house and watched the Daily Show/Colbert Report, and then picked up Will for the movie. The movie was enjoyable, probably better than the second one (never saw the first). Tom Cruise remained likable on the screen despite his continuing decent into Scientological wackiness.
5/5
Post-Keck, Will invited Jeff and I over for spaghetti and meatballs, which was quite good (I dont' think I had ever had Will's cooking), and then, as Cindy and I had been unable to get anyone else in Cinco de Mayo celebrations, we went and had Margaritas, first at a place on Richmond near Montrose (can't remember where) that was overpriced and not particularly impressive. We then intended to move on to somewhere else but found Chapultapec overly crowded. We briefly considered the Proletariat, but ultimately decided against it for similar reasons. In the end, we returned to my place and I attempted grapefruit margaritas, but I still haven't been able to match Courtney's prowess.
5/6
Viraj managed (a little later than usual) to organize one last beach party down at Quintana beach, so Cindy and I gathered up some sausage, some beer, and headed down south. The crowd wasn't exactly mine, but it down by the water it was a pretty pleasant evening. The sausages were good (if a little gritty from inevitably picking up sand). The fire was nice. The PBR and High Life were cold. We had a nice walk down by the water, and returned to the fire only to discover that the mosquitos had found our little gathering, so we opted to leave rather quickly and began the drive home.
5/7
I hadn't had much to drink at the beach, but I felt like crap the next day (maybe it was the sausage?). I recovered later in the day and had a pleasantly quiet Sunday.
Considering that some people take a full week off after their committee meetings, I felt justified in taking a week off. The boss was out of town, and my first priority was editing a paper, which I could at least look like I was doing from home.
It was glorious.
Char decided that he wanted to do a proper smoking night, so I made my first trip to the Briar Shoppe to get some pipe tobacco for Char and Angela, and cigars for Cindy and I. The girl working the counter seemed a little surprised that I was asking for suggestions, but was willing to help. I ended up with a Java "wafer" (pressed somewhat flat) cigar for Cindy. For myself, I picked up the suggested Jose Seijas special edition manufactured by Tabacalera De Garcia, the last one they had. I bought a Macanudo just in case.
Cindy and I went over to Char's that evening, and we had a nice laid back time sitting in their back yard enjoying our various tobacco products. I was probably most impressed with the Java that Cindy had (Becca finished off the remains of it when I was in Austin and liked it). Mine was enjoyable, but I don't know, maybe it was too serious of a cigar for me. In the end, it kicked my ass and made me more than a bit nauseous, so we eventually made our exit.
5/2
One of the monthly computational biology talks was given by Dr. James Yorke who coined the term "Chaos", up in the med center's one and only fancy restaurant, Trevisio. The lecture was sort of scattered but had some nice bits. Afterwards, there was beer, wine, and the ubiquitous cheese/fruit trays.
5/3
I had twice before attempted to sit in on one of Vincent and Jeff's jam sessions. Jeff plays rhythm/lead guitar, and Vincent plays bass/rhythm guitar. Since Jeff bought me a nifty USB MIDI keyboard for my birthday last year, I actually had something that I'm (in theory) capable of playing. I plug it into the PowerBook, fire up Garage Band, and have a nice selection of software instruments (and, potentially, loops) to play around with, though I pretty much stick to grand piano, electric piano, clavinova, and organ.
So in this first session, I pretty much stuck to playing one-handed chords (or worse, the roots of the chords). I had to look up a few things (completely forgot what a 7th chord is, for example) and review a few scales. Overall, it was a rocky start, but I had fun.
5/4
The next round (and most highly anticipated) of my stereo upgrade was due to arrive via FedEx, so I elected to work from home, and this time actually did so.
This was almost rendered moot by the lazy-ass FedEx triver, who couldn't be bothered to do something as trivial as try to deliver the package to my actual door; instead the bastard just took it straight to the office. Thankfully, I checked the tracking page (an hour after it had actually arrived), and realized it was there. So I went and picked them up, assembled them, hooked them up, and took a listen. Again, more on that later.
Will wanted to catch the midnight showing of Mission: Impossible 3, so Cindy and I met up early for dinner and I introduced her to the wonderful thing that is Pei Wei. We split an order of their new (since the last time I went, which was some time ago) pork lettuce wraps, which were a nice variation on the original chicken dish, which substitued butter lettuce (a nice complement to the other flavors) and added some pineapple (also a nice complement to the pork), and maybe did away with the mushrooms. We also split an order of Blazing Noodles, which weren't particularly blazing, and were enjoyable, but probably not somethign I'll order again any time soon.
Cindy ran an errand at Half Price Books, we came by my house and watched the Daily Show/Colbert Report, and then picked up Will for the movie. The movie was enjoyable, probably better than the second one (never saw the first). Tom Cruise remained likable on the screen despite his continuing decent into Scientological wackiness.
5/5
Post-Keck, Will invited Jeff and I over for spaghetti and meatballs, which was quite good (I dont' think I had ever had Will's cooking), and then, as Cindy and I had been unable to get anyone else in Cinco de Mayo celebrations, we went and had Margaritas, first at a place on Richmond near Montrose (can't remember where) that was overpriced and not particularly impressive. We then intended to move on to somewhere else but found Chapultapec overly crowded. We briefly considered the Proletariat, but ultimately decided against it for similar reasons. In the end, we returned to my place and I attempted grapefruit margaritas, but I still haven't been able to match Courtney's prowess.
5/6
Viraj managed (a little later than usual) to organize one last beach party down at Quintana beach, so Cindy and I gathered up some sausage, some beer, and headed down south. The crowd wasn't exactly mine, but it down by the water it was a pretty pleasant evening. The sausages were good (if a little gritty from inevitably picking up sand). The fire was nice. The PBR and High Life were cold. We had a nice walk down by the water, and returned to the fire only to discover that the mosquitos had found our little gathering, so we opted to leave rather quickly and began the drive home.
5/7
I hadn't had much to drink at the beach, but I felt like crap the next day (maybe it was the sausage?). I recovered later in the day and had a pleasantly quiet Sunday.
posted by L. Maxwell Ward at 2:17 PM
