Checking out the iPhone; Farewell to David; Dallas
7/9
Made my first trip to check out the iPhone at the Apple Store, and it was everything I'd dreamed it would be. What with the California trip having been all but picked up by my funding agency, and the resulting air travel voucher, I was in a pretty good place financially. So I started thinking about the logistics of getting out of my T-mobile contract, selling my Blackberry, and acquiring an iPhone.
After getting back, Cindy & I made our airplane ticket purchases and watched some Sopranos.
7/10
Band practice, followed by picking up some Whataburger on the way home. Yum.
7/11
Sometimes-collaborator, frequent annoyance David from the lab decided to plan his going away party while the boss was out of the country, since he's kind of a dick like that. That had the side effect that, sadly, the event was not on the lab's dime. Anyway, we hit Gingerman after work for some beer, then Nit Noi for some Thai. Somehow, I was the group's expert for Thai food and so did the ordering.
Afterwards, Cindy & I scooped Will up from Baker Street to catch the new Harry Potter, which I recall being nice enough.
7/12
Grocery shopping and then the Sopranos. Super exciting evening.
7/13
I took the day off and headed up to Dallas for my annual visit to see Bryan. I got in, checked out their awesome house in the Lower Greenville neighborhood, played some Wii Tennis, and then Phil met up with us and we walked up to Blue... Mesa? (help me out, Bryan) for Tex-Mex and margs. Then, more walking (I do like being able to walk places—no worries about having to drive home and such) up to the Granada theater to catch a solid set by Centro-Matic. I'm sure we grabbed some more drinks somewhere else afterwards (or maybe not) before we headed back to Bryan's place.
7/14
Bryan and I started the day with some Wii Tennis before grabbing lunch at a Mediterranean place (again, Bryan, remind me). Bryan had wanted to show me Penzey's Spices, which was pretty sweet, and then we headed back to his place.
What came next was a revelation. Bryan had gotten some beers from Thom: the magical lambic variety known as gueuze. I was familiar with the fruit-flavored lambics, but not this wonderfully sour beer. Bryan had four bottles that we worked our way through. The first was Lindemann's Gueuze, which I think is kind of a dumbed down version of the style, with some extra sweetness to cover the sour flavors. Next we tried their Cuvée Rene, which is a pretty faithful representation, and I loved it. In addition to the sourness there was a nice dark roasted nut flavor behind it. There were two more which I found pretty similar to the Cuvée Rene (Bryan, more help...). The Cuvée is the only one (well, and the Gueuze) I can get in Texas, and I've since taken to stocking a few bottles.
In a very lucky coincidence, Nick and Alison happened to be rolling through town that same evening. Nick caught up with us during our beer tasting and joined in... and brandished his new iPhone. I was, of course, jealous. We went out for a great Indian dinner (Bryan...) and Alison very patiently put up with us catching up, before they had to be on their way.
7/15
We grabbed some lunch (the details escape me... Bryan?) before doing some shopping at Good Records and then I headed back to Houston. My notes specify that I went to Buffalo Wild Wings that night... presumably with Cindy.
Made my first trip to check out the iPhone at the Apple Store, and it was everything I'd dreamed it would be. What with the California trip having been all but picked up by my funding agency, and the resulting air travel voucher, I was in a pretty good place financially. So I started thinking about the logistics of getting out of my T-mobile contract, selling my Blackberry, and acquiring an iPhone.
After getting back, Cindy & I made our airplane ticket purchases and watched some Sopranos.
7/10
Band practice, followed by picking up some Whataburger on the way home. Yum.
7/11
Sometimes-collaborator, frequent annoyance David from the lab decided to plan his going away party while the boss was out of the country, since he's kind of a dick like that. That had the side effect that, sadly, the event was not on the lab's dime. Anyway, we hit Gingerman after work for some beer, then Nit Noi for some Thai. Somehow, I was the group's expert for Thai food and so did the ordering.
Afterwards, Cindy & I scooped Will up from Baker Street to catch the new Harry Potter, which I recall being nice enough.
7/12
Grocery shopping and then the Sopranos. Super exciting evening.
7/13
I took the day off and headed up to Dallas for my annual visit to see Bryan. I got in, checked out their awesome house in the Lower Greenville neighborhood, played some Wii Tennis, and then Phil met up with us and we walked up to Blue... Mesa? (help me out, Bryan) for Tex-Mex and margs. Then, more walking (I do like being able to walk places—no worries about having to drive home and such) up to the Granada theater to catch a solid set by Centro-Matic. I'm sure we grabbed some more drinks somewhere else afterwards (or maybe not) before we headed back to Bryan's place.
7/14
Bryan and I started the day with some Wii Tennis before grabbing lunch at a Mediterranean place (again, Bryan, remind me). Bryan had wanted to show me Penzey's Spices, which was pretty sweet, and then we headed back to his place.
What came next was a revelation. Bryan had gotten some beers from Thom: the magical lambic variety known as gueuze. I was familiar with the fruit-flavored lambics, but not this wonderfully sour beer. Bryan had four bottles that we worked our way through. The first was Lindemann's Gueuze, which I think is kind of a dumbed down version of the style, with some extra sweetness to cover the sour flavors. Next we tried their Cuvée Rene, which is a pretty faithful representation, and I loved it. In addition to the sourness there was a nice dark roasted nut flavor behind it. There were two more which I found pretty similar to the Cuvée Rene (Bryan, more help...). The Cuvée is the only one (well, and the Gueuze) I can get in Texas, and I've since taken to stocking a few bottles.
In a very lucky coincidence, Nick and Alison happened to be rolling through town that same evening. Nick caught up with us during our beer tasting and joined in... and brandished his new iPhone. I was, of course, jealous. We went out for a great Indian dinner (Bryan...) and Alison very patiently put up with us catching up, before they had to be on their way.
7/15
We grabbed some lunch (the details escape me... Bryan?) before doing some shopping at Good Records and then I headed back to Houston. My notes specify that I went to Buffalo Wild Wings that night... presumably with Cindy.
Labels: Apple, beer, movies, restaurants, technology, trips
posted by L. Maxwell Ward at 2:24 AM
