I dropped off last week again - bad habit I'm getting onto it seems - so I'll try to pick up where it gets more interesting. Alright...
First, MLB TV. This is SWEET. I am highly enjoying watching the Cubs games and miscellany from around the league. They won't show the Sox here due to local blackout rules, but by the time I get to Phoenix that will be more awesome than a glen full of Campbell's Soup, if you know what I mean. So yes, work hard, go running, come home and watch los Cubbies lose. It's a lifestyle.
Second, I neglected to review Papa Jovino Santos Neto's show two Wednesdays ago - it was awesome. Very energetic, very creative piano trio with some guest spots from a Berklee school of music flautist. Brazilian jazz with lots of traditional rhythms - it was a bit more composed than typical jazz and they kept things very tight and short, which was a good move for the crowd (and, for that matter, the Beck). The crowd consisted of a whole bunch of Ariel's frisbee friends, so we got to see Jerrel, Lisa, Skipper, Tali, Verbs, Davey, Jeff "Dick" Brown, Funboy, Dad (Elliot) and others. Good times, and a nice little club taboot. I picked up a steeply priced CD which is very good - I immediately recognized which tunes we had heard at the show and which we hadn't, which is a pretty good indicator of the quality / memorability of the melodies. And, as we all know, the most memorable melodies are the ones that are unforgettable. In every way.
Third, I promise you two things in the next couple of days: one, a review of Sam Harris's End of Faith, which is WAY overdue. Two, I owe the planet at least three dog tails I can think of, so per Karen's request, I will get on that.
Fourth, I'm having trouble remembering anything exciting that occurred on Wednesday or Thursday, so I'll zoom ahead to Friday. Here goes: Beck needed to go to Natick Mall to run errands so she drove me down in the AM and dropped me at the Nut. Half of my class declined to show up, so in lieu of the activity I had planned, we watched a hellaciously depressing movie on the early history of AIDS. I worked, graded, tutored, and eventually Beck swung back by to pick me up and deliver me to Friday Ultimate at Cognex.
Ah, the noontime Ultimate game at a tech company. This game always wavers between worth it and not - there are a few reasonably solid guys out there, they're all nice beyond belief, and it's generally a good time. But I invariably aggravate someone by hustling after a disc, or marking hard, or whathaveyou. And it's the usual mixed skill pick up phenomenon where people occasionally stutter cut (so if you're throwing you have no idea what they're doing), go to the wrong place, and generally don't play defense. So it's frustrating, but good to get out and run around, and occasionally gets pictures like this:
On the awesome side, everything is feeling pretty okay for the time being - not real explosive and can't jump, but nothing is actively hurting which is a change over recent times out. Yeeha. And the best part was when the Beck returned from lunch and brought me a meatball sub AND a gatorade. Hoorah! Beck is awesome, and you know this.
We briefly left Natick for Grafton to clean up and head back at 6 for dinner with the iFam, who were in town for Beck's Tea Shower. (Help, it's raining Earl Grey). We hit up Dah Mee, the excellent little Korean / Japanese restaurant in Natick where I saw a few Nuts and we talked very loudly about memes. A great dinner, and great to see everybody.
Saturday started for me with a drive to a tutee who called me as I pulled into his apartment complex to let me know that he was ill and didn't want to meet. Um, sorry, but, like, uh, thanks for the call ahead. I went grocery shopping and took the dogs running instead. Hoowha. Ali picked up beck and whisked her downtown while I spent the PM watching hockey, basketball, and the Sox win game 2 of 3 (SWEEP!) this weekend from the Yanks. The shower/tea apparently went well, despite our crew's gauche desire to move tables together and Kate's grand entrance in which she knocked everything off the table by stepping on the linen... nice. Someone (Jill) also asked Ali if she was drunk and Beck replied...
(Insert TV show theme music) "That's Ali."
Beck and iFam called in the late afternoon to let me know that Figs had been shut down - :( - so we were eating at the Naked Fish in Natick. I walked and fed the S & W and booked it down to Natick with the intention of stopping by the Nut to pick up some papers I had forgotten for Beck... only to find I had grabbed beck's keys, which are very lacking in the "key to my office" department. D'oh. When I arrived late sans papers for Beck at the NF, I found out that this is a habitual female Searl problem, that of not taking their keys anywhere. Oh, well. Somehow, the species survives.
GREAT+ dinner at NF - I had South American ribs and popcorn shrimp, both of which were miles beyond excellent. We met up with the Searl clan one last time along with Gringoat and the Matron SheWolf (aka Ali's mommy) at the South St. Diner in Westborough on Sunday morning; We apparently met there at 9 am because PGoat's mom has "real" diabetes. Imposters best recognize. Another great meal, crazy laughing goodness, and it turns out that Ali can say things like "Peri Hooha" in mixed company without batting an eye.
We're in the long process of stripping the apartment of all signs of life, so I spent a little bit of the rest of the morning helping Beck with that and then headed off to Sunday BUDA Ultimate. Ah, BUDA Ultimate - this game always wavers between worth it and not. Just kidding. I played very well, felt very good and we lost. D'oh. Bur I did get to hang out with Dave Wu and he gave me a DVD of pics from last Polaroid season - I'll include a conglomerate of self-centered Nyet shots right here:
You can learn a lot from that little montage. One, when I huck forehand, i go out of focus. Two, I look like a complete ninny after I release a hammer, whether I'm facing right OR left. (For the record, all three of those throws were for scores).
Here's a pic of a classic Polaroid O-line:
That's Lisa, Andre, Jay, Tom, Flor, Nyet & the Speckle-bellied Jullietta. Definitely a big positive part of the Boston experience; gonna miss it.
So I drove the long way home and Beck and I watched The Simpsons (yay) and an episode of Family Guy (boo) before crashing. I woke up wicked early this morning (4:45 am, no reason) and made a day of it, tutoring, giving out a pop quiz, tutoring, tossing the disc in the Walnut quad with some of the Nuts, and then I went and played a little more lunchtime Ultimate. The weather, if you hadn't gathered by now, is friggin' gorgeous. I'm pretty wiped and sore, but otherwise doing okay. And the Beck and I are headed out for more dancing instruction tonight. I encourage her to hum the appropriate Carole King tune.
Until next time...
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