another training ride, another long day on the bike

I spent all day Saturday on another training ride for the NYC Century next month.  Today's ride was scheduled for 58 miles, from Williamsburg to the Far Rockaways and back.  I volunteered to be a marshal for this ride, so when I arrived at the bike shop in Williamsburg I got an orange vest, a first aid kit, and the responsibility of helping shepherd 20 riders through Brooklyn and Queens.  There were a few other marshals leading the ride, so I occasionally took point, rode in the middle and pointed out turns, and swept at the back near the end of the ride.  As with the last training ride, we left late and stopped frequently to let the slower riders catch up.  Unlike the last ride, we never really split into slower and faster groups, so we ended up setting a slower overall pace than I would have preferred.  One of the other marshals told us about a pizza place he knew out in the Rockaways, so most of us stopped there before we went to the beach for a rest stop.  A few people went swimming, but mostly we sat on a stone wall, ate, and relaxed for a while. 

We left the Rockaways around 1 PM and for a while the whole group hung together.  But somewhere near the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens we lost about half the group, so we were down to nine riders.  I didn't want to abandon the lost riders; I saw that as a failure in my job as a marshal.  We made a few phone calls and tracked down some of them -- they'd made a wrong turn at the racetrack and ended up by JFK before they turned around.  A few others had already told us they were going to find their own ways back to Manhattan.  We met the "lost ones" about an hour later at Kissena Park.  By now it was 4 PM and we had 15 miles to go to return to the bike shop in Williamsburg.  Somehow we managed to keep the remaining riders together all the way back, with me riding "sweep" at the back to make sure we didn't lose anyone.  We pulled up at the bike shop at 5:40.  I dropped off my vest and rode back to Manhattan via the Williamsburg Bridge.  I turned on Allen St. and rode north onto 1st Avenue, and I got home about 6:15, only 11 hours after I'd left.  So it was a long day in the saddle for not as many miles as I feel like I rode.  However, the weather was excellent, I met some interesting people, and I had some great pizza out in the Rockaways.  And I know that I'm in good enough shape to handle a century next month. 

My stats for the day:

Total miles: 74
Average speed: 11.3 MPH (that's really slow for me)
Total miles so far in 2006: 559

RIP, Cat Detective Fred

Fred, the one-year-old tabby who assisted the Brooklyn DA's office in a sting operation on an unlicensed vet earlier this year, was killed by a car yesterday after he got out of the house. It's a terrible end for a cat who had many years of living large on his police-cat's pension ahead of him. My heart broke a little when I read this news story today.

It's also an argument for why no city cats (or any cats, for that matter) should be allowed outside. My cats stay inside all the time, and they don't seem to mind at all. Starlite in particular has been on the outside, as he was once a stray, and I don't think he's got any interest in going back outside. I used to think I might put him on a leash and try to walk him in Carl Schurz Park near my apartment, but I don't think he'd like that. Just getting the harness on him would be dangerous enough. No, he and Vladi will continue to eat well and enjoy life inside their luxurious Upper East Side digs.

a fire on my street this evening

On my way home from the subway, I heard and saw a bunch of fire trucks and ambulances fly past me on 86th Street. That's a usual occurrence in New York. However, what's not usual is when they stop on 1st Avenue a few blocks south of my building. One of the apartments at 86th and 1st had a major fire, and as you can see from the photos I've just uploaded to Flickr, the fire department had to go in via the roof, the windows, and ground level. There's a pet store/groomer in that building, and the proprietors brought out about half a dozen dogs on leashes and a cat in a crate. The fire department also rescued a cat from the building, and I saw a guy, maybe the owner, tending to it as it was laying on the bumper of one of the fire trucks. (I hope the cat is OK -- it was hard to tell but I could see it was breathing. And of course I hope no one was hurt; it didn't look like there were any human casualties.) Once the fire was out, the firemen began removing burned and damaged items from the apartment via the windows. I didn't know this, but they just drop the damaged stuff onto the sidewalk rather than carry it out. It was actually sad to see kids' toys and blankets being tossed out as trash.

I didn't mean to become a sidewalk gawker, but I wasn't alone so I didn't feel guilty about it. Besides, whenever I see fire trucks in my neighborhood, I usually miss all the excitement and see the firemen cleaning up hoses and packing the trucks. At least this time I got to see them in action.

Water Taxi Beach

I went to Queens on Saturday afternoon to hang out with some friends at Water Taxi Beach. It's an outdoor bar and restaurant that imported several tons of New Jersey sand to Queens to create an artificial sandy beach. It was damn hot, even at 4 PM when I got there, but we had a good time sitting out in the sun (and under the cool water mist) and people-watching. My only complaint would be that the proprietors need to rake the sand more often. Once I saw the amount of cigarette butts in the sand I decided to keep my shoes on. I took some excellent photos of the Manhattan skyline from the beach. Sometimes I'm amazed at what my little camera can do.

By 7:30 PM we'd had enough of the beach and a few of us left in search of dinner. We had all passed Smokey's BBQ on the way to the beach, so we gave it a try. It turned out to be one of the better BBQ joints in the city. I had the Texas brisket sandwich, and it was some of the best melt-in-your-mouth brisket I'd ever had. The chef came out to our table and introduced himself, always a classy touch, and the wait staff was attentive, friendly, and quick. I'm looking forward to making another trip over there.

On an unrelated note, I've started a new project at home: digitally archiving my old print photos. Over the past few months I've dug out several drawers and boxes and found about 20 envelopes full of photos taken from 1995 to 2001, when I bought my first digital camera. Some of the earlier photos are blurry due to the crappy Olympus 35mm camera I had that lacked an auto-focus lens. But the photos from 1999 to 2001 are much better, as I'd moved up to an APS film camera by then. I bought a new scanner/printer on Saturday and I've already scanned in a bunch of photos from a wedding in 2001. If I can scan an envelope a night, I should be done with this project in a few weeks. There's a finite number of photos involved; it's not like I'm amassing any more prints to scan. I'm not expecting any kind of disaster to wipe out my old photos, but since I have all my music on my computer I might as well have all of my photos there as well.

damn book meme tag thing *grumble*

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your Blog/Live Journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
6. Tag five people.

From TCP/IP Blueprints (Burke, Bligh, Lee, et al.) (c) 1997:

If an interface still needs the IP address, it must renegotiate the lease before it expires. The automatic address allocation policy can be implemented by using dynamic allocation, but setting the lease time to be infinite.

Figure 6.1 illustrates the sequence of DHCP messages that are exchanged in order to negotiate the lease. Note that all messages from the client are broadcast because the client doesn't yet have an IP address.

Tag:

Matt
Carol
Josh
David Pogue
Craig

a confession and a revelation

I've been watching Project Runway for the past few weeks. Normally I avoid reality TV shows like bird flu, but I'm watching this one because after over 14 years of reality programming (counting endless installments of The Real World), at long last I know one of the contestants. I went to high school with Angela Keslar, the designer everyone loves to hate this season. She was a year ahead of me: I was in the class of '92 at Westmont Hilltop High School in good old Johnstown, PA, and she was in the class of '91. I don't really remember much about her from school, and I didn't know her well enough to say if she was as bitchy then as the show makes her out to be now. I think she was involved in the theater, but I could be confusing her with someone else in her class. She may have been in the chorus with me, but lots of students were in the chorus. But I did go to school with her. So I've got that little connection to someone who is only marginally famous in her own right.

one year later, and it's another hot ride in the summertime

The NYC Century is about six weeks away, and I'm not quite in prime riding shape. This year, TA is offering training rides for marshals and regular riders, so James and I went on yesterday's 50-mile ride from Williamsburg to Orchard Beach in the Bronx. The ride was supposed to start at 8 AM in Brooklyn and if all went well, we would be done before the hottest part of the day. Of course, I should know better by now, and as you'll see below, it felt like a ride from Hell.

The ride started at a bike shop in Williamsburg in Brooklyn, so I had 7 miles on the odometer when I got to the start. There were about 25 cyclists there, including three or four marshals, and after a quick orientation and marshal introduction, we left around 8:30 AM. It was already hot and humid, but the breeze while we were riding kept us cooled off. We rode north through Brooklyn to the Pulaski Bridge to Queens, then across the Queensboro Bridge to Manhattan. We stopped in Central Park so that some of the slower riders could catch up, and that's where we had our first flat tire. After waiting for about 15 minutes, the marshals directed us to ride to the Central Park boathouse to use the bathroom. We waited there another 10-15 minutes, then they had us ride to the northern entrance to the park. At the top of the park, one of the marshals finally decided that she would take some of us up ahead and that we'd all meet up at Orchard Beach for the return trip. So there were about eight of us when we left the park and took the Macombs Dam Bridge into the Bronx. Up to this point the cue sheet had been accurate, but it got a little harder to follow once we were in the city’s only mainland borough. We kept breaking out the city’s cycling map to figure out where the cue sheet’s writer wanted us to go. We rode around a reservoir and ended up on the Pelham Parkway bike path that led out to City Island. We all missed the turn for Orchard Beach and instead stopped just across the bridge on City Island. At this point it was noon. We were about a half-hour ahead of the rest of the group, as they’d had to stop several times for flats. We decided to stay right there, have lunch, and then ride over to the beach. James wanted to get a lobster roll at one of the local seafood restaurants, but they were all upscale establishments with valet parking and didn’t look like they wanted to seat two sweaty guys in spandex. We got sandwiches from Subway instead. Our group had its own mechanical problems, too: no flats, but one of our riders had a bike seat problem (as in the seat came off the seatpost) and she had to get a car service ride back to the subway. The rest of us went to Orchard Beach and found the rest of our little peloton.

Around 1 PM, with the return trip ahead of us, our smaller breakaway took off for home. We made a few wrong turns and the slower group caught up to us at White Plains Avenue. It was now the hottest part of the day, and every time we stopped at a traffic light, the heat from the roadway was even worse than the heat from the sun. I was dumping hot water from my bottle onto my head and back and drinking hot blue Gatorade from the other bottle. I was feeling all right, but it was just too damn hot to be out there. Our faster group stayed with the rest of the ride for a few miles but eventually we broke away again. We stopped for more water near Yankee Stadium, but since I only had a few miles to go to get back to my apartment, I only took enough ice-cold water to dump on my head. Back in Manhattan, I rode with the group to the Queensboro Bridge and pointed out the bike ramp entrance, said goodbye, and rode home up 1^st Avenue. I got in just after 3 PM, having left around 7:15 AM. I rode 55 miles total, but it felt like 70 with the heat. It wasn’t as bad as last year’s bike ride to nowhere, though it was close. I’m not too sore today, but my face and arms are sunburned. Also, one of my bike pedals has a broken toe clip, so I’ve got to get that fixed today if I want to ride this week.

There are two more TA-sponsored training rides before the Century itself on September 10. I hope that TA can figure out a way to accommodate the faster riders, because it’s not much fun to ride in the August heat, and especially when you have to keep a slower pace for the group. Still, I’m glad they’re staging these rides, as I need all the mileage I can get.

apparently, it WAS a true story

In today's column, Gene Weingarten covers the bad date story I wrote about last week. Gene actually found Darren, who decided that his failed attempts to reach Joanne meant that she was not interested in seeing him again and asked her to pay him back for her half of the meal. Unfortunately, Gene also found that Darren wouldn't comment on the story, and that he has apparently gone into hiding, like Steve Bartman. I suspect that Darren will have to look overseas for a woman to share his life with him. I'd suggest that he try to find someone who speaks little English, so she won't understand the voice-mail messages embedded in the e-mail when she inevitably receives it as a forward from one of her friends.

this might be my first drunk blog post ever

OK, I'm not THAT drunk, but I did go out for a pint or two after work, which turned into a few pints and several shots of unknown alcoholic substances (one had Jagermeister, OJ, and an as-yet-unidentified liquor, but was damn tasty -- we [the group] had two of those). Anyway, on my way to visit a friend and help her with her cats, I remembered that I'd been wanting to try Stolichnaya's new Blueberi Vodka. Kim O'Donnel at The Washington Post reviewed it quite favorably last week, and ever since I'd been reminding myself to pick up a bottle. After my cat medical duties were fulfilled (I held the cats while she applied some sort of skin treatment to them), I went home and put the vodka in the freezer, because we all know ice-cold is the best way to drink the stuff. I broke out the bottle around 11 PM and tried a tiny sample in a shot glass. Oh, wow, that's tasty. I'm currently enjoying a bit of Stoli Blueberi with orange juice, making a sort of blueberry-orange screwdriver. O'Donnel wasn't kidding. This stuff is the best Stoli flavor I've had in years, and I've enjoyed all the varieties they've produced. I may have to pick up a few more bottles just in case they take it off the shelves in the fall.

And now please pardon me while I pass out at the keyboard.

Queens boro power problems

This story hasn't been on the national news, so most of the country doesn't know that some neighborhoods in one of NYC's five boroughs have been suffering without power for the past week. Con Edison has been going manhole by manhole to fix the problems, which have to do with underground feeder cables. Apparently it's not a capacity problem, but a delivery one. The trouble is that even when Con Ed has restored power to some customers, it goes out again when it rains or when the manholes catch on fire. Gawker pointed out this story from a frustrated Queens resident who saw a manhole fire early Sunday morning. All I can say is that if I were living in one of the affected neighborhoods, I'd have turned into a marauding Visigoth by now. As a geek whose many entertainment options rely on electricity, I don't enjoy power outages. And a week without power during a heat wave would be enough to drive me over the edge. Some of my readers know how nasty I can be when I'm aggravated at work. Just imagine me like that all the time, except I'd be wielding my dead Blackberry like a club as I fought my way onto an air-conditioned subway car.

more bad dating experiences for other people

It's merely a coincidence that I've had a few dating-related posts lately. I don't control the news, I just report it.

This story, about a man and a woman who met on Jdate and went out to dinner, is beginning to look like an urban legend. However, there are voice-mail messages that make it sound like it could be true. Either way, it's not a good idea to demand that your date pay you back for her half of the meal several days AFTER the date and then threaten legal action when she refuses to pay. And before I get more comments from online dating fanatics about how their services are better, I don't care. Jdate isn't the problem here. People who think that dating consists of financial transactions instead of social ones are the problem.

Good news for Brian Shackelford

He's not going to be charged with sexual assault after a date with a woman he met on match.com. I appreciate the comments I've received on my earlier post on Shackelford. Somehow it got linked on some other online dating sites, which explains all the unusual traffic on that particular post. I didn't think I was that popular on my own.

Darth Vader: baseball fan, pimp, African king

Screenhead linked to this Youtube video of scenes from Star Wars with James Earl Jones' lines from other movies dubbed in. I don't know why it ends with a Billy Joel song, but some of the scenes are hysterical. I can't believe it took almost 30 years for someone to come up with this idea.

watch out for the private room at DT/UT

DT/UT is my favorite Upper East Side coffeehouse/bar: great coffee, tasty desserts, WiFi by donation, and, when you can find a seat, comfy couches. There's a little semi-private area that's curtained off from the rest of the room. I've never sat in there, mostly because I never bring enough people in with me to feel like I've got the appropriate numbers to stake it out as my territory. And now I might avoid that room completely from now on, after reading this post over at The Daily Dump (love that name, BTW). I don't think I've ever done more than kiss someone in a public place, let alone put on a make-out show complete with pelvic grinding. And at my age (32) I'm way too old to engage in such behavior in public. That's why I live alone. I think once you get to your 30s you should be old enough to know better, and you should be responsible enough that when someone suggests you "get a room" that you have an actual private room in your home to which you can go. Once you get home, if you want to pretend you're 15 again and play "Seven Minutes in Heaven" in your bedroom closet, that's your business. I just don't want to see it.

It's not like I need another computer game in my house

Whenever I read something like this column, the urge to run out and buy a PS2 and a copy of Guitar Hero is almost uncontrollable. I tried four or five times to play "Bark At The Moon" on the intermediate setting at my friend's house back in April, and I nearly sprained my hand. Maybe when the PS3 comes out this fall I'll look for a PS2 on eBay at a bargain price.

Yesterday's big boom on the UES

Since it's not on my normal daily commute, I was nowhere near the building explosion at Madison Ave. and 62nd St. In fact, I didn't even hear about it until I got to work. See, I can't stand much of the "Today" show or in fact any morning TV, so I watch ESPN's "Mike & Mike In The Morning" instead. And they don't cover big stories like this one, especially when they're in Pittsburgh for the MLB All-Star Game. I found out about the explosion when I saw a post on Gawker and another on Gothamist. One of my co-workers actually knows the guy who blew up the building, and he wanted to see it on the way home, so we stopped up there about 7 PM last night. I was able to snap a few pictures before the police told us to move along. Even at that hour there was still a significant amount of activity up there, and the backhoe that you can sort of see in this photo was busy clearing debris out of the street.

In a sign that people in NYC just take things like this in stride, most businesses on Madison Ave. and restaurants on the side streets were open as if nothing at all had happened. I love this city.

another reason to avoid online dating

Brian Shackelford, now a former Cincinnati Reds pitcher (he was sent to the minors yesterday), was arrested for third-degree sexual assault after a date with a woman he met on match.com.

I have to agree with the commenters at Deadspin: since when does a major league baseball player need to use match.com to meet women?

Watching the World Cup at work

Image(075)
Originally uploaded by catelinp.

This afternoon was the last World Cup game that would be played during the workday, so I went to the cafeteria to watch the France-Portugal match on the big screen. The TV appeared in the cafeteria three weeks ago at the start of the tournament and I watched several matches there, though I saw most of the games from my desk on ESPN360. However, with the World Cup nearing its end, I thought I'd watch one last game with the die-hard fans in the office. I took this photo with my cell phone camera when the guy who handles the A/V setups asked me to document his handiwork. As you can see, there weren't too many fans there today, either because of vacations or lack of interest in the teams. Last week's Argentina-Germany quarterfinal drew a much larger crowd. Still, it was a fun way to spend a few mid-summer hours at work the day after a holiday. I asked if they could keep the TV there for the Tour de France, but I think it's going back into storage tonight.

how I spent my holiday weekend

As good as it sometimes is to leave New York for a long weekend, it's even better to stay in the city. Since so many people travel, the streets and restaurants are empty, so it's easy to get a table or take a walk without getting crushed in the usual mob. And while everyone else fights traffic trying to get back into the city before the work week starts, I get to stay home and relax. I was on call for Saturday and Sunday, so I couldn't do anything too far from home but I managed to have fun anyway. I was cat-sitting for a friend, and I managed to get some cool shots of her cats. They didn't mind posing for me; I'll have to figure out how to get mine to behave for my camera.

I enjoyed several great meals over the weekend:

• Trader Joe's filet mignon
• south Indian vegetarian cuisine at Pongal
• Mexican at Maz Mezcal (taking advantage of the holiday crowd to get a good table)
  
• the hottest Thai food I've ever eaten at Sripaphai in Queens
• Chinese on the Fourth of July where the wait staff were all mesmerized by the Germany-Italy World Cup semifinal.

I went to the Mets-Pirates game at Shea on Monday night, where the Pirates took advantage of the Mets pitching staff and won 11-1. By the end of the game I was just embarrassed for the Mets, though I was cheering quietly for the Pirates the whole time. I even stood up for Nate McLouth's solo home run in the eighth inning, and I would have jumped up for Ronny Paulino's home run that preceded it if I hadn't been so surprised that the ball left the park in the first place. Despite the loss, Shea was nearly packed until the end of the game, as it was fireworks night. For a ballpark fireworks display, the show was surprisingly good. The soundtrack was a little odd, though: it included "I Go To Extremes" by Billy Joel and a Kelly Clarkson song as well as some more patriotic music.

I watched Tuesday night's excellent Macy's Fireworks show from an apartment on the 43rd floor of a building near 42nd St. on the east side. I'm moving up, literally: last year I watched the fireworks from a 20-story rooftop near Union Square, and this year it was the 43rd floor. Next year it's the Empire State Building or bust. Since my camera has a special fireworks setting, I tried to take pictures. However, it seems that even with fancy digital technology you still need a tripod to get great photos of fireworks. But some of my pictures turned out OK, so you can get a sense of what the show looked like. As we were inside, we got to listen to the soundtrack for the fireworks this year, and it was better than the one the Mets put together the night before. You can't go wrong with Sousa marches and "God Bless America." I could have done without the pop-patriotic songs, though. The best part after the show was watching the crowd file off the FDR and being able to wait until the streets were less busy before walking home.

In case you hadn't figured it out already, photos from the weekend are up on my Flickr site.

First Aaron Spelling, now "Eddie," who's next?

This afternoon, Defamer alerted readers that Moose, the Jack Russell terrier who starred in the TV show "Frasier" as "Eddie," had passed on. Moose was 16 and had lived a full, star-crossed life, and he will be remembered fondly. However, that's not why I'm posting this. It was the following quote from Defamer that had me nearly crying with laughter:

As always, we are required to remind you that these celebrity death come in threes: We shall sleep less soundly until we receive word that the Hollywood Grim Reaper's bony knuckle has rapped at the final door, doggie or otherwise.

Quake is 10, and once more I feel old

Slashdot points out that ten years ago yesterday the original version of Quake appeared on download servers at cdrom.com. I was already familiar with the FPS genre in the form of Castle Wolfenstein, DOOM, and Duke Nukem, but Quake was the game that began my habit of playing online late at night. I used to deathmatch against my friends at work and in the computer lab, and I remember downloading Quake at the office at Georgetown and playing it in the "War Room" (the closet-like workspace I shared with my boss and our student assistant) during lunch. When I bought my first home PC six months later I loaded Quake onto it and would play online into the wee hours against whoever was out there. I had to play at night so I wouldn't tie up the phone line during the day. And when I got my first 3D-capable video card, well, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I still play FPS games online occasionally, but I don't have much of a tolerance for other gamers anymore, so now when I play games it's mostly offline. Still, I can hardly believe it's been ten years. I keep a copy of the original Quake handy for the occasional road trip when I get really bored. It will actually play on the laptops I get from work, and it's still fun to frag computer-controlled monsters once in a while.

Isiah Thomas, coach of the New York Knicks

I used to be a serious Knicks fan, when I was in college and the Knicks had Patrick Ewing and John Starks and were perennial title contenders. But since 2000 the team has become the longest-running joke in the NBA, even more laughable than the Los Angeles Clippers (who actually won a playoff series this year!). Last year the Knicks hired Larry Brown to resurrect the franchise, but instead of a turnaround he helped drive the team further into the ground. While Brown didn't do himself many favors by alienating his players, he wasn't the right coach for this mess. This morning brought the news that we all knew was coming: Brown is out after one season and Isiah Thomas is the new head coach as well as GM and team president. Let's see what Isiah has done for the Knicks: he's brought in a bunch of me-first players, hired and fired several coaches, including a guaranteed Hall of Famer in Brown, and traded away valuable draft picks, including the 2007 first-round pick to the Chicago Bulls. It's an overpaid, underperforming team with terrible chemistry, and now the guy who singlehandedly destroyed a popular minor league in the CBA is now the only guy steering the ship. Deadspin had a post on this story, but instead of commenting themselves they just turned it over to their legion of commenters. My two favorites are here and here.

Google Alert pays off again

For those of you who can't get enough information about my grandfather and his performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Tuba Concerto, last weekend Google Alerts pointed me to an article from Time Magazine about the premiere of the work. The article mentions the meeting between my grandfather and the composer at the latter's apartment, where the photo in the first link was taken.

What's next, Google Alerts? I'd love to get a link to a recording of the conversation and rehearsal session between these two men. However, I think if such a thing existed, it would be in my family's possession. Maybe when I finally get that time machine built I can go back and hear what went on when these two met, half a century ago.

Fenway Park, but not baseball

Before I get into last night's conference party at Fenway Park, I have to talk about the shuttle bus situation here. Since the convention center is not close to any of the hotels, Microsoft has been running shuttle buses to and from the hotels. However, the traffic here is terrible, so the route that works one day may not work the next. The bus drivers don't know the city, so sometimes passengers on the bus have to tell the drivers where to go. Several times now I've had a shuttle bus from my hotel go the complete opposite direction from the convention center, taking a traffic-choked four-lane highway and then making a U-turn instead of the quicker route through the city. And to top things off, there's a labor dispute between the Teamsters and the shuttle bus companies, so management has been driving the buses for the past few days. At best, it's a SNAFU, and at worst a total disaster.

The way the bus problems tie into the conference party is as follows. Microsoft recommended that we not bring our bags to Fenway Park for the party, which meant that you could either check your bag overnight at the convention center or leave it at your hotel. However, they weren't running shuttles from the hotels to Fenway, just from the convention center. So if I wanted to use the "official" transportation system, I'd have to take a shuttle from the conference to the hotel, another shuttle back to the conference, then ANOTHER shuttle to Fenway. Instead, I took one shuttle to the hotel and relaxed for a while, then checked out the Public Library (across the street from my hotel) and then took the T to Fenway with a few Boston natives.

The party was more fun than I thought it would be. They gave us the run of the ballpark: access to all the concessions (and everything was free!), all the seating areas, and even the warning track from the visitors' dugout to the outfield. So while I haven't seen the Red Sox in person at Fenway, I have stood on the warning track and sat in the dugout, right where the Yankees sit. You can't really tell from TV or photos, but Fenway is TINY. I already knew that, but you have to see it to understand. It's probably the smallest baseball stadium I've ever seen. And most of the seats look like they date from the construction of the stadium. Since they gave us so much access, I walked around the park and took pictures from just about every vantage point: the Green Monster, the right field rooftop, the outfield, behind home plate, etc. Train came on around 8:30 and were better than I thought, but still mostly bland. The only excitement of the show was around 9 PM, when the band invited some women to dance on top of the Red Sox dugout (the small stage was set up on the field directly in front of the dugout). I didn't see it, but a woman fell off the edge of the dugout and they stopped the show for about 10 minutes to take care of that problem. When Train came back on, they played a few Led Zeppelin covers ("Going to California" and "Ramble On") before getting back to their own material. About 9:30 the singer asked "I guess you want to hear 'Drops of Jupiter,' right? OK." as if he wanted to know if we wanted fries with that. It was like he didn't give a damn about playing their biggest hit and the only song most people knew. When they finished that song I headed for the shuttle bus. Their performance was decent, and the crowd liked it, but there was nothing interesting about the band. They're bland, lite FM musicians, and they played like they were just picking up a paycheck.

The ride back wasn't without a little adventure. The driver went past our hotel and had to drive around the block a few times before we (the passengers) told him where to turn. I've only been here a week, and I know my way around better than some of these drivers.

Wednesday night was better than Tuesday

Last night I went out to Cambridge with my uncle to sit in on my cousin's 8th grade graduation exam/presentation. Here in Boston the schools make you present some of your classwork and projects to a panel of teachers before they let you move on to high school. The weird part for me was that the family gets to sit in. I asked my uncle if my cousin knew I was going to be there, and he said yes, and it had made her a little more nervous. Just what I intended. :) So it was me, my aunt and uncle, their older daughter, and four teachers observing my cousin's exam. She was in fact a bit nervous, but she performed well and passed with honors. She was especially passionate about her work on justice and dissent, her study of Animal Farm, and a paper she wrote on my great aunt who recently passed away at 95. After the exam we went to a Mexican restaurant near their house and I enjoyed a plate of chile rellenos stuffed with cheese and pork (mmm, extra kosher!), then I had some time to see their house and visit with the family.

Today was another early morning at the conference center. I had some laptop problems last night, and because of the funky way my office has locked down the system, I had to wait until I got to the conference before I could fix things. But the PC is running smoothly now. I was supposed to go to two afternoon sessions, but I ended up skipping one to watch the England-Trinidad & Tobago World Cup match. I downloaded the slides, so I got most of the presentation anyway. I went to the show floor for the end-of-show prize drawings, but came up empty on all of them. I did get ANOTHER t-shirt, which has to put me into the double-digits for the show. I can throw out an entire drawer of old shirts now, and that's after I share some of the shirts with my co-workers.

Tonight's entertainment is the Train concert at Fenway Park, which I will attend for two reasons: free food and I don't have anything better to do. I may leave early to watch basketball if I can't stand the music. I need to pack tonight because I have to haul all my stuff with me to the conference center. Traffic in this town is terrible, and with everyone trying to get to the show with their luggage, it might take me an extra hour to get here. Also, the bathrooms at this center are plentiful, but they're all too small so there's always a line. I can't wait to go home. I wouldn't mind coming back to Boston for a vacation, but if they have another show like this here, I think I'll skip it.

We're jammin', and I hope you like jammin' too

On Tuesday, faced with another night hanging out in my hotel room, I decided to see what the "Jam Session" social event was all about. I took the shuttle bus over to Avalon, a nightclub next to Fenway Park. What I found was a performance space similar to The Bayou in Georgetown, with a small dance floor and tables in front of a large stage, with bars around the sides. On the stage were an assortment of guitarists, drummers, keyboardists, and a few people who seemed to switch instruments at random. The event lived up to its name -- it was a jam session. Apparently no one up there was a professional, except for the guy who had lyric sheets and possibly sheet music for some of the songs. I'm not sure if musical talent was a requirement to get up on the stage and perform with the group. It was like a P-Funk show, if P-Funk were a bunch of dorky white guys and instead of "Flashlight" they played "Margaritaville." The show was heavy on blues and classic rock, with songs like "Breakdown," "No Way Out," and "All Along The Watchtower" played in the time I was there. I didn't get quite drunk enough to enjoy myself (the beers were $6 apiece), but I will say that it wasn't all bad. Some of the musicians were actually quite good, and a few of the singers were excellent. But I think I'll skip the Jam Sessions next time I come to Tech Ed. I would have had more fun watching the NBA game at a bar.

The Skating Citroen Transformer

Remember this guy? Well, he's back, this time on ice. Damn, that's cool.

Tuesday Tech Ed update

Ben Roethlisberger's condition has been listed as serious but stable and still a complete dumbass.

Today's swag haul: three more t-shirts (I'm up to seven or eight total) and my first useful item, a 512 MB USB key. At this point I think I have enough items that everyone I work with gets something that's cool, instead of just a pen or a toy.

I have one or two sessions to go, and then I have to find something to do to entertain myself this evening. Last night I watched the Stanley Cup finals and had dinner at Legal Sea Foods. Tonight I might check out the "jam sessions" at a local club, where Tech Ed attendees can get up on stage and perform. It sounds like karaoke, only worse, as this involves musical instruments too. Maybe I'll just watch the NBA Finals instead.

I'm NOT standing on a ledge right now

The bad thing about being on the road and away from my constant Internet connection at work is that I hear about Ben Roethlisberger's motorcycle accident via an e-mail from my mom. I got her message in the middle of a session, and probably annoyed all the people around me by breaking out my laptop to get the full story.

I cannot believe that this kid could be so goddamn stupid as to ride without a helmet. First Jay Williams wrecks his motorcycle (still out of the NBA and trying to get back in), then Kellen Winslow, Jr. (missed the entire 2005 season), and now Big Ben. I hope he's OK, I hope he can play football again, but I'm just angry about it. Training camp starts in late July or August, so it looks like he'll miss part of camp. I guess it's the fact that he's 24 years old, just won a Super Bowl four months ago, and he feels invincible. I bet he rides with a helmet after this accident, if he ever rides a motorcycle again.

The only reason I'm not considering taking my own life right now is that Roethlisberger is just one part of the team, and there are many, many other great players that won that Super Bowl. As much as I like him, he's not like Peyton Manning or Donovan McNabb, guys whose absence from the field would seriously jeopardize their team's hopes for playoff success. Although I just remembered how badly the team played when Big Ben missed a few games last season with a bad knee. Damn: this hotel is only six stories tall.

Tech Ed: Monday morning

Last night's keynote address wasn't a complete waste of time, but if I'd skipped it I wouldn't have missed much. The highlight for most of the attendees was the presence of Mary Lynn Rajskub, who plays Chloe, the tech girl, on "24." But I don't watch "24," so I wasn't too excited. She had some really bad scripted interactions with Microsoft VPs and with a few guys she pulled out of the audience, and I just felt bad for her. Whatever she was getting paid wasn't enough. It was like watching a mismatched pair of presenters at an award show reading cheesy jokes to each other, except it went on and on and on. Microsoft also showed a four-park parody of "24" called "4," featuring a guy named "Jack Power" and cameos from Microsoft bigwigs (no Bill Gates, unfortunately). By 9 PM I'd had enough and I left. I ended up meeting some friends at a restaurant and missing the premiere of "Entourage," but when I got back to the hotel I noticed that the hotel's TV lineup doesn't include HBO. I guess I'll catch Entourage when I get back to NYC.

This morning I had another roundabout ride to the convention center on the shuttle bus. This time, the bus circled the entire center before pulling up to the door. On Friday morning, when everyone coming here will have their luggage with them, I'll have to leave my hotel at 7 AM just so I can get here on time.

The crowd here looks just like the people who came to Brainshare: geeks, geeks, and more geeks, of all ages and sizes. That includes me, of course. I'm wearing one of my Novell shirts today, and it didn't take long for someone to make a joke about it. I don't care. I don't mind being "That Guy" for one day.

blogger in Boston

This week I'm in Boston for Microsoft's Tech Ed conference. My office is eliminating all of our Novell products in favor of Microsoft's, so I didn't get to go to Novell's BrainShare conference in Salt Lake City this year. Instead, the firm sent me here, to Microsoft's equivalent conference. I've only been in Boston a few hours, but already I've had a quick tour of the city, courtesy of a shuttle bus driver who apparently didn't know how to get from my hotel to the convention center. I've now seen the outside of Fenway Park twice. Anyway, the fun begins tonight with keynote addresses and then early tomorrow morning with training sessions. I'll post photos and blog entries as events and situations warrant. Or whenever I feel like it. You know, the usual routine.

What would Stephen Colbert say about this?

The photo says it all. Unfortunately, if a bear came into my apartment, Vladi would run away and Mr. Starlite would nuzzle him in an attempt to be friends.

my grandfather & Ralph Vaughan Williams

I have a Google Alert set up to e-mail me for new search results for "Philip Catelinet." Most of the time it returns links to ancient GroupWise listserv messages I posted in 1999. However, once in a while it pays off with something good. This morning I got an alert about this page where you can see a photo of my grandfather (who was also named Philip Catelinet) playing his tuba for the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1954. I have a portrait of both men from the same photo shoot hanging over my desk at home.

Most of my friends have heard this story before, but for my new readers or those who don't know, my grandfather played the tuba for several London orchestras in the 1950s. When Vaughan Williams wrote his Tuba Concerto, he asked my grandfather for some guidance on writing a solo part for the instrument. When the work was completed, my grandfather premiered it at one of the Proms concerts in June of 1954 (I hope I'm getting all these details right). Vaughan Williams put my grandfather's name in the score of the concerto, and since there are so few works for solo tuba, most tubists know the name Philip Catelinet from the tuba part for the Vaughan Williams piece. (My grandfather also taught at Carnegie Mellon University for twenty years and wrote and arranged music for band and orchestra, so the concerto wasn't his only claim to fame.) Occasionally, in certain musical settings (like picking up tickets at the New York Philharmonic box office), someone will recognize my name and ask me about my grandfather. He passed away in 1995, but his spirit lives on in the music he wrote and the lives he touched.

I almost wish I was in DC this weekend too...

The National Symphony Orchestra is performing Gustav Mahler's Eighth Symphony, colloquially known as the "Symphony of a Thousand." Calling this work "gargantuan" would be an understatement. It's been sold out for weeks, so if you don't have tickets yet, you'll be listening to it at home on your stereo instead. Or, if you're like me, on your MP3 player this afternoon. Here in New York, Lorin Maazel has been programming all of Mahler's symphonies throughout his tenure as music director. I don't think they've gotten to the Eighth yet, so I'll have to keep watching the schedule. I'd buy a subscription if that was the only way to guarantee I could get tickets for that spectacle. Hey, it worked last season when I wanted to see Mozart's "The Magic Flute" at the Metropolitan Opera.

BEST.REUNION.EVER.

I had written a really long wrapup of the entire reunion weekend, but it was so detailed that not even I would want to read it. So I'll just mention the highlights:

my first "Burger Madness" sandwich from Wisemiller's in almost a decade
watching the Spelling Bee with Jon and making fun of the contestants
seeing some of my best friends again after too long
reuniting three-fourths of the 37th & O Street Quartet (my old string quartet)
laughing with my freshman year roommate about all the times I wanted to kill him and he wanted to do the same to me
drinking at the Tombs at last call with guys from my freshman dorm
running into my junior year roommate at the Tombs
getting into a semi-private party at F. Scott's on Saturday night (only the second time in my life I've been to F. Scott's)
walking across the Key Bridge at 3 AM and leaving a voice-mail message for James in which Jon and I both yelled about all the fun we were having

Obviously I could write much more, but these are the things I'll remember most fondly. I just had more fun than I've had in a long, long time, and I was sad to see it come to an end at 3 AM Sunday morning (when F. Scott's closed and they kicked us out of the bar).

campus tour photos are up

I've uploaded the photos from my memory-filled tour of campus yesterday. Check them out.

welcome back to Georgetown

This weekend is my 10-year reunion at Georgetown. I sometimes find it hard to believe that it's been ten years since I graduated from college and had to get a real job. Inside, I still feel like I'm about 25, so it doesn't seem real to me that I've been out of school this long. But the calendar says it's been a decade, and so I'm back on campus this weekend for all the fun. So far today I've walked from one end of campus to the other, taking pictures of all the places I used to live and work, as well as a few of my old hangouts. I even found my old senior-year apartment in Village A open for year-end cleanup, so I snuck in and snapped a few pictures before anyone from maintenance could catch me. I can't be certain, but I think the furniture is the same as when I lived there. I also peeked into the bowels of New North, where I used to work as a student and later a full-time employee, and I gave myself a tour of the new theater building. Later tonight or tomorrow, after I have a chance to post the pictures, I'll post some kind of mini-travelogue for my few readers who didn't go to school with me and don't know any of these places. And also just because I feel like writing it and reminiscing.

I also had lunch with two friends from the orchestra, neither of whom I'd seen in about eight years. It's kind of sad that none of us have kept in touch with too many people from the orchestra. There used to be an alumni society for the orchestra and choir, but since I moved to New York I haven't been in contact with anyone who was trying to keep that group afloat. As far as I know, it's defunct. But it was great to see my friends again and catch up with them.

It's a three-day weekend...

After work on Friday night, I went to a little hole-in-the-wall theater on the Lower East Side to see my friend Matt's latest show, a sketch comedy show called "Happy Hour." $25 got me a seat and all the PBR and watered-down margaritas I could drink. The show was all about love and sex, and Matt's big scene was when he played "Orgasm Man" and four women stripped off his shirt while he raved about his "special powers." It was more of Matt than I ever expected to see, but his performance was funny. Then we went out for a few beers with most of the cast and some of the audience, and I got to watch the Navy's finest trying to pick up girls (it is Fleet Week in NYC).

On Saturday night I went to the New York Philharmonic with Jess to hear Berlioz' Harold in Italy and Mahler's Symphony No. 1. The soloist for the Berlioz was Cynthia Phelps, the orchestra's principal violist, and she put in a solid performance. Lorin Maazel was conducting, and while I liked their performance of the work, I didn't think it was the absolute best they could have done. There were a few places where Phelps and the orchestra weren't completely together, and I thought she could have played louder throughout the piece. But it came together in the last movement (although I didn't realize that the solo viola doesn't play for most of the final movement). The Mahler symphony was just outstanding. Maazel conducted the entire work without a score (I don't even conduct that piece in front of my stereo without the score) and the orchestra sounded like they were all born to play that one symphony. They had everything the score calls for: five trumpets, seven horns, two sets of timpani, a full arsenal of percussion, and all the winds and strings you could possibly want. In the last movement, I got a little chill at my favorite part, when the horns stand up for the final fanfare. It was definitely the best live performance I've ever heard of Mahler's First Symphony. Note to self: look for a recording of Maazel conducting Symphony No. 2.

I went for a bike ride on Sunday, then hung out at home to watch the end of the Indy 500. After dinner I met up with some friends to see X-Men: The Last Stand, which wasn't quite as good as the 2nd movie but was chock full of action and all the subtle X-Men references you could ask for. I did notice one continuity error, and I wondered why at the end Wolverine loses his X-Man shirt in a kind of flesh-eating windstorm but not his X-Man uniform pants.

Today was my day to relax. I did get out to take care of one errand and I spent about a half-hour at PC Richard debating whether or not I should buy another air conditioner for my bedroom. I've got two AC units already, one in the living room and a smaller one in the office, and I don't know if I can justify to myself a need for a third unit just for the bedroom. But this will be my fourth year living in this apartment, and for the past three summers it's been difficult to sleep in the bedroom without air conditioning. I end up dozing for a few hours on top of the sheets, tossing and turning, instead of getting a solid night's sleep. I'm thinking about moving the office AC unit to the bedroom and just dealing with the heat in the office. Since I only use the office at night and on weekends, I might be able to get by without having AC in there. For now, I'm going to wait and see how hot it gets. And while I didn't get invited to any holiday cookouts, I didn't let that stop me from enjoying large quantities of grilled meat: I cooked a juicy, delicious steak on the stove, in my grillpan. It's not quite the same as cooking outdoors on a charcoal grill, but it was still damn tasty.

cycling update

I almost forgot about this new "feature."

Thursday, May 25: 3 early-morning laps in Central Park, 20 miles.

Sunday, May 28: 4 midday laps in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, 37.5 miles including getting to and from Brooklyn.

Total miles for 2006 so far: 211.3.

another new laptop from work

We're rolling out new Windows XP laptops and desktops at work, and I've got one of the new IBM/Lenovo T60 ThinkPads that the cool kids have. Originally the hardware department gave me this laptop for testing the XP installation, but for the past week or so I've been using it as my regular work PC and bringing it home every night instead of my trusty but old T41. I might have to give the laptop back if they run short and need to give it to an attorney instead of a fork-and-spoon operator like me, but for the moment it's all mine.

Since it's a T series ThinkPad, it has the same basic look and feel as the T41, with just a few cosmetic changes. The touchpad is a little smaller, there's another USB port on the left side (which makes 3 total), and it doesn't have any serial or parallel ports at all. Inside, it's got a 2.6 GHz dual-core processor, a 60 GB hard disk, 1 GB of RAM, and a DVD/CD-RW optical drive. It also has a 20V power supply instead of the old 12V ones, so I have to bring the AC adapter home each night (which means I'll probably forget it when I travel -- I've had a spare IBM AC adapter at home for years but it won't work with the T60). So I can use it for all the usual work tasks, plus watching DVDs and surfing from home while watching TV, as I'm doing right now.

The annoying thing about the new laptop is that it's got the "official" office installation of Windows XP on it, so it's missing some software I use all the time (like Firefox and a CD burner). For years, I've set up my PCs myself, with my own installation of Windows XP and whatever software I choose. This laptop is also locked down, so I can't just install anything I want. Actually, I can, since I've got an administrative logon for the system, but I'm trying to keep the system as close to the office's configuration as I can. I did install Firefox because I just can't get through the day without it but I've held off on some other things for now. The real test of how the lockdown affects me will be in a few weeks when I take this laptop to Boston for Microsoft's Tech Ed conference. As long as I can use the convention center's wireless network, connect my media reader to upload photos, and watch movies, I should be OK. I'm really starting to like this laptop, so I'll be just a little upset if someone comes to take it from me. No lawyer is going to show it the kind of love and affection it deserves.

As for my old friend the T41, it's currently locked in a drawer at my desk, awaiting its well-earned retirement. However, I don't think that's a career of mating with R series ThinkPads to produce little baby X series ThinkPads. I'm fairly certain it will soon be on its way to a second career as a used laptop in another part of the world.

an emasculating moment this evening

As I walked up to my apartment building this evening, I noticed this girl standing outside the bar next to my building, talking on her cell phone. I went into my building and got my mail, and took a minute to sort out what was important vs. what was trash (since the trash room is a few feet from the mailboxes, I usually toss the junk without ever taking it upstairs) when this girl came into the building. I'd also noticed two Ikea boxes, one long and one short, sitting in the foyer, across from the mailboxes. She was sort of poking at the boxes when I asked her if she needed some help with them. She had moved into one of the fifth-floor apartments last week and just returned from Ikea. She said she was waiting for a friend to help her, but he was having trouble finding a parking space. I offered to help her carry the boxes upstairs. I was able to carry the smaller one by myself, and while it was heavy, it wasn't too much trouble to go up four flights with it. My arms already starting to ache, we went back downstairs to get the second box. I looked at the side panel and saw that it weighed 156 lbs. There's no way I could carry that much myself, so she and I managed to get it up to the third floor before we ran out of gas. I was impressed we got it that far. She surprised me with her strength: she was maybe 5'4" and didn't look outwardly muscular, but she was capably handling her end of the long box. With the box on the third floor landing, she said her friend could take it the rest of the way. I told her to let me know if they needed my help when her friend got there and I went back to my apartment.

Just as I got inside, I had an idea. Why not open the large box and take the contents upstairs in pieces? I was about to get my box cutter and go back into the hallway when I heard the girl and her friend. I looked out through my peep-hole and saw this guy, who was definitely no bigger than me and maybe smaller, pick up the 156-lb, six-foot-long box, tuck it under his arm and go up the stairs with it. I just had to laugh. I can't compete with that kind of brute strength. Granted, I made his job a little easier by getting the box up two floors, but I couldn't carry that much weight under one arm to go up even one floor.

And now I'll be lucky if I can even lift my arms tomorrow. Damn.

I'm in Gene Weingarten's chat today

Finally, after several attempts over two-plus years, one of my posts has been accepted into the weekly chat on the Washington Post web site. If you think you know which one is mine, post something in the comments. I will let you know if you got it right.

The Wiyos live at Barbes

My other big weekend activity was Saturday night's trip to Brooklyn to hear The Wiyos live at Barbes. I've written about The Wiyos a few times, most notably the last time I saw them live, at the same bar. The scene was essentially the same as the last time, and the back room of the bar was crowded and hot, but no one seemed to mind. Over two hours and two sets, the band played about a half-dozen songs from their last album, a few from their first album, and another five or six songs that I'd never heard before. They also made a few observations about their music, such as the fact that nearly all of their songs are either about getting together or breaking up, and that they obviously got into this kind of music for the money and the pop charts. I might have laughed loudest at the bassist's comment that they will play for weddings and divorce parties. My only complaint about the show was that it wasn't as much of a sing-along as the last one, so I was a little self-conscious when I sang along on the songs I knew (which was most of them). And they didn't play their version of George Gershwin's "Summertime," which is one of my favorites. They're playing at Joe's Pub in Manhattan on June 8, so I've got another chance to see them before they go on tour for the summer. Maybe it will be OK if I sing along at that show.

cycling report for May 20 and 21, 2006

This is the first in an ongoing series of posts of the miles I ride on my bike and where I go. Assuming, of course, that I remember to post this stuff here.

On Saturday, I rode the Manhattan loop, going north on the East Side and south along the West Side Greenway. There's a newly paved section on the West side, north of fairway near the waste treatment facility. This path runs parallel to the railroad tracks, instead of the old path, which was an access road leading to Riverbank State Park.
Total miles: 30.

Usually I just ride one day on a weekend. However, when I got up on Sunday morning, the weather looked fantastic, and I didn't think I should waste it by going to the gym or staying home. So I headed for Central Park, intending to ride three or four laps. However, when I got there, I remembered that there was an AIDS Walk in the park, which closed most of the paths on the west side. So I left the park, headed north and took St. Nicholas Ave. as far as I could go. St. Nicholas Ave. ended around 190th St., at the intersection of Ft. George Ave. and Audubon Ave. Audubon took me in a circle back to St. Nicholas, so I took Ft. George and found myself on Amsterdam Ave., headed south. I passed the Highbridge Tower Park and turned down Edgecombe Ave. to get back to the Harlem River Greenway. I hit 23 mph going north on the greenway, but could only manage 13 mph coming back, as I had a nasty headwind in my face. I rode back to Central Park and then around the park on Central Park West and 59th St. before heading north again on Third Ave. to get home.
Total miles: 21
Miles so far in 2006: 151.

The Pittsburgh Pirates still stink, for 14 years and counting

ESPN.com columnist Gene Wojciechowski writes about the sorry state of the Pittsburgh Pirates and how Pittsburgh is and always will be a Steelers town first. The saddest part of his column isn't in the text, it's the chart next to the column comparing the two teams' records since they each won a championship in 1979. The Pirates had a few good seasons and three division titles from 1990-1992, but since then they've had 13 losing seasons, and they're well on their way to a 14th. It's a damn shame. It doesn't help that the team made some terrible personnel decisions during that time (Pat Meares and Derek Bell come to mind immediately), wasting millions on has-beens and never-weres while trading away promising young players. There are constant rumors that Mark Cuban, the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, wants to buy the Pirates, but the current owners don't want to sell. I guess they'd rather have a losing team and a money-loser than increase the team's payroll and put together a winner. All Cuban has done with the Mavericks is make them into a perennial playoff team and title contender. I don't see why he couldn't do the same thing with the Pirates.

Tony Snow, master of the blues flute

I'm not sure who came up with the idea of playing the flute in a blues band. Maybe it was Ian Anderson, or perhaps James Galway tried it once. It's not important. New press secretary Tony Snow knows how to play the flute, as shown in this clip that Wonkette found earlier today. Why he's playing a solo for "Stormy Monday," or why he finishes the song on the saxophone, well, those are questions left for you to ponder. I think this version of the song is an insult not only to the blues, but to flutists everywhere as well.

Mother's Day weekend review

My mom and my brother came to New York for the weekend, so I got to play tourist along with them for a few days.

We went to see "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" on Friday night, and we all thought the show was hilarious. My brother and I decided not to try to get into the show as spelling bee contestants, although I'd like to think I'd have done well. My favorite part of the musical was the example sentences the organizers used for the spelling bee words. I didn't actually like the music that much, and a few of the songs went on too long, like the one for the little girl whose mother is in India and whose father doesn't make it to the bee. But I'd wanted to see this particular show for over a year, and I wasn't disappointed.

On Saturday my brother wanted to see Chelsea Market, so we went down there around lunchtime. We browsed through a few of the gourmet stores, and my only regret was that I didn't have a recipe with me for dinner on Saturday night. I was surrounded by all these delicious-looking ingredients but I didn't buy anything. We continued the food tour in Greenwich Village: falafel and shawarma sandwiches from Mamoun's, coffee from Grey Dog Coffee, and cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery. Then we went uptown to Zabar's, to which my brother had never been before, and I bought an electric kettle, a non-stick skillet, and a potato ricer. Michael just got a different ricer and a pound of coffee. We went back to my neighborhood for dinner at Penang. (In case it wasn't clear before, this weekend was mostly about doing things to fill in the time between excellent dining experiences.)

We took my mom to brunch at the Delta Grill on Sunday morning. I'd been to the Delta Grill many times, but never for brunch. I had an omelet wrapped in a potato cake, which reminded me of the SNL "Taco Town" commercial, and we all enjoyed some of their beignets (which were good but not even close to the ones at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans). After lunch we had a few hours to see the Guggenheim Museum and the David Smith sculpture exhibit that was closing that day. The sculptures were interesting but didn't do much for me. I liked his earlier works better than the later ones -- Smith spent his last years combining found steel objects into artworks, but it looked to me like he was just throwing together anything he could find and calling it art. Sunday night's Sopranos dinner was James' version of Carmela's baked ziti, and all I can say was that it was worth all the effort James put into the dish. That was one excellent meal.

I took a few pictures of Times Square and Washington Square while we were walking around this weekend. I was happy to see that while the Beasty Feast pet store on Bleecker Street near my old apartment now has a new name, the same cats still live there. Bonnie, the mean old mama cat, was in her usual spot on the sidewalk just outside the store. I knew well enough not to try to pet her, but she did let me take her picture.

a new look around here

I thought I'd update the template after about two years with the old one. This one includes my profile, so I threw in one of the few photos of me that I have in my collection. I think I've put back everything I had in the old template. If I'm missing something, I'm sure I'll notice it. I saved several copies of the old template just in case I need it. One thing I've learned as an IT professional is that you can't have too many backups.

Mr. Starlite in a compromising position

IMG_0120
Originally uploaded by catelinp.

OK, I'm just posting this photo to try out Flickr's blog feature. And also because I love this shot. I'm not sure if he's mad at me for taking the picture or just comfortable with his body.

I'm on Gothamist!

Gothamist used one of my Bike New York photos for Sunday's "Extra, Extra" daily wrap-up post. I love Flickr tags.

Five Boro Bike Tour 2006

This year was my sixth time riding in Bike New York/The Five Boro Bike Tour, and I think this year's ride may have been my favorite. I hope my several readers will forgive me for bragging a little in this post. I've been riding as an adult for about eight years now, and while I've had my ups and downs physically over that time, so far in 2006 I feel like I'm riding better than ever.

I left my apartment and got warmed up by flying down Second and Fifth Avenues to my usual starting place in Greenwich Village, near my old apartment. (I'm one of those bad people who doesn't start the ride at Battery Park -- I prefer to jump in a few blocks north.) The ride followed the same route as in previous years: Sixth Avenue to Central Park, then north out of the park to the Madison Avenue Bridge to the Bronx. Coming out of the Bronx, the course takes the FDR Drive to the Queensboro Bridge, through Astoria, then south to Brooklyn, along the waterfront to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, then the Shore Parkway, and finally the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to Staten Island. My favorite parts of the ride are the FDR and the BQE, as they are only open to bikes for this ride, once a year. So when I got onto those highways, I put my bike into high gear and took off. I rode safely but swiftly, passing rider after rider, my legs burning but the rest of me feeling fantastic. I was in the left lane on the BQE for most of the time. Riders in front of me either heard me coming or just sensed me behind them, because they kept moving to the right just as I was getting ready to pass them, leaving me plenty of room to blow by. At one point on the BQE, my bike computer said I was going 28 MPH, which might be a personal record. Including rest stops, I covered the entire 42-mile route in about four hours. At the end of the ride I felt like I could have gone another twenty miles. I actually had about eight miles left, which is the distance between the Staten Island ferry terminal and my apartment on the Upper East Side. So I ended up with 50 miles for the day, and 100 miles total so far in 2006. I'm a tenth of the way to my 1000-mile goal. I can tell that my legs are going to be aching tomorrow from all that hard work on the BQE, but the pain will be worth the effort. And the endorphins feel fantastic.

the ORIGINAL "original" Star Wars trilogy on DVD

This just in: On September 12, Lucasfilm will release the original, non-Special Edition versions of the classic Star Wars trilogy on DVD. My friend Chris points out that he predicted just such an occurrence, though he was off by a year.

While I appreciate George Lucas's change of heart about releasing the original SW trilogy on DVD, I'm not planning to be among the many fans who will eagerly buy this nostalgia-filled edition of the movies on DVD the minute the stores open. I rarely watch the SE DVDs that I already have, so I don't think I need to spend more money on the trilogy. I don't actually hate the SE versions. Aside from the "HAN SHOT FIRST!" butchering (which was somewhat better on the SE DVD), I think the SE trilogy is an improvement over the original. I like the updated special effects and the added footage with Jabba the Hutt at Mos Eisley. I'm not a Star Wars purist or a completist, so it's not that important to me to own these editions as well. Besides, they're selling the 2004 SE DVD and the original edition in the same package, so I'd be re-buying something I already own.

I think I'll pass.

However, I am excited about the release of LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy on the same day. I LOVED the first LEGO Star Wars video game, which let you play through the prequel trilogy as LEGO versions of the movie characters. In fact, I recently re-installed it on my computer so I could play it again. It's ostensibly a kid's game, but it's so much fun to play and re-play that I don't care. Check out the link above for the trailer for the sequel, and you'll see what I mean. I'm not kidding about how fantastic the original game was. If you're a Star Wars fan and you own a decent computer or a video game system, you should have LEGO Star Wars in your collection, if for no other reason than the chance to chop Jar-Jar Binks into little LEGO pieces.

I "SAW" it last night

I was already tired Tuesday night when I was flipping channels around 12:15 AM. That's when I found SAW on one of my Cinemax or Showtime networks. It was only about five minutes in, so I started watching it. I hadn't planned to watch the entire movie, but since I hadn't seen it before, I ended up staying up until 2 AM watching the whole thing. I already knew the ending, or at least the most gruesome part, so I watched most of the movie shouting "just cut off your damn foot already!" at Cary Elwes. The rest of the film was predictable, and while the final twist surprised me, it wasn't unexpected. I thought it was a decent horror film, but not the groundbreaking movie that horror fans thought it was two years ago. And seeing it didn't make me want to see the sequel.

Horror movies, even when viewed just before bedtime, don't really scare me. But after I was in bed, I did get up again to make sure I'd locked my apartment door. You never know when the jigsaw killer will sneak in and lock you in his basement. I think next time I'm looking for a late-night movie, I'll try a comedy instead just to be safe.

a semi-productive weekend

Because I was on call for work this past week, I couldn't make any big plans for the weekend. I spent most of Saturday afternoon sitting in my living room watching the NFL Draft and answering calls from the help desk. The draft can be fun to watch (it always reminds me of the student housing apartment lottery at Georgetown), but when the weather outside is beautiful the last place I want to be is sitting inside looking at it through my windows. Which is why I finally decided to clean my apartment windows after living there for three years. My windows look out on First Avenue, and since before I moved in they've been covered in a layer of some kind of sooty substance that looks like it runs off the roof when it rains. I'd hoped that my landlord would have a cleaning crew power-wash the windows a few times a year, like in my old apartment in DC, but apparently they don't do that for five-story walkups. So I took matters into my own hands and figured out how to get the windows open enough for me to get some Windex onto them and wipe them down. It took half a roll of paper towels and I ended up with plenty of soot on me, but my windows are much, much better looking now. I even climbed out onto my fire escape for the first time. Now I've got a clear view of First Avenue. I realize that this story is probably of interest only to me, but it makes such a difference to sit in my living room with the shades up and not have the sunlight filtered through a layer of dirt. So that was my productive activity for the weekend.

I got out on Sunday morning for a bike ride in Central Park. I'm preparing for next Sunday's Bike New York, so I needed to put some miles on the bike when I had the chance. I managed to ride 28 miles nonstop yesterday. Combined with my initial ride of 20 miles two weeks ago, I'm at 48 miles so far for 2006. My goal this year is to ride 1000 miles before I put the bike away in October or November. Last year I got to 975 before the weather and social activities cut short my rides. So 1000 miles shouldn't be too hard to reach. After my ride, I went back outside for one of my favorite spring/summer activities: reading in the park. I sat in Carl Schurz Park for about two hours, reading William Gibson's All Tomorrow's Parties until my brother called me and then the office started paging me again. I also took a few photos in the park with my new camera, since I haven't had too many chances to use it yet. Check out the Flickr link if you want to see them.

"Rocket Man" duel

I heard the audio of William Shatner's "Rocket Man" years ago, but it wasn't until a few weeks back that I finally saw the video of it. The footage comes from a 1978 sci-fi films awards show. It's grainy but you get the idea.

More recently, Family Guy's Stewie Griffin performed a tribute to Shatner's version in an episode. I hadn't realized that Stewie's performance is a nearly identical parody of Shatner's song until I saw both videos.

Both of these links appeared in Gene Weingarten's chat last month, and I kept forgetting to post them. They're SFW but turn your speakers down a little or plug in your headphones -- both songs start playing as soon as the pages load.

A tribute to hockey hair

In honor of the start of the NHL playoffs, ESPN.com asked famed mullethead Barry Melrose to rate the top mullets in NHL history. I'm a big fan of Jaromir Jagr's hairstyle from the early-to-mid-1990s. I fondly remember Jagr's long hair flowing behind him as he streaked toward the net on his way to score another goal. Those were the Penguins' best days, when they won two Stanley Cups. I never grew my hair long enough to have a mullet that righteous, unfortunately. My brother had a much better mullet back in the day; if I can find a photo of it, I just might have to embarrass him with it. His was a mullet worthy of a hockey player.

not much news lately

I spent last weekend in Maryland and Virginia, visiting family and friends. I took some pictures of my friends' 13-month-old son, which you will find on the Flickr site. He was cranky but mugged for the camera every time I came near him. James, Jess, and I rented a car for the trip. While we had to take multiple forms of transportation just to get to the rental office (subway and bus to Penn Station, NJ Transit to Newark Airport, AirTrain to parking lot 4, Ramada shuttle van to Ramada Inn/Payless Car Rentals) we didn't have any car theft issues this time around.

While I'm not leaving New York for the next month or so, my brother is in Busan, South Korea this week on a business trip. Unfortunately, his office didn't spring for business-class seats for him and his boss, so he had to spend 15 hours in "steerage," as he puts it. I'm a little jealous, though, since I haven't been out of the country in almost two years and I've let my passport expire. My office doesn't have any overseas trips planned for my group, so there's no urgency to get it renewed. I'm always hopeful that someone in the London office will screw up and break something, requiring my assistance to fix it. And if I had to stay at the St. Martin's Lane hotel again and drink a few pints at the Bishop of Norwich pub, well, that's necessary to keep me in the right frame of mind to fix the problem.

Stick to sports, Whitlock

Jason Whitlock, Kansas City Star sports columnist and weekly writer for ESPN.com's Page 2, has used his space this week to write about "The Sopranos" instead of his usual thoughts on Jeff George, race relations, or Hollywood hotties. He opens with a quick mention of Knicks coach Larry Brown and compares him to David Chase. And for the next few hundred words, it's all about HBO with only an occasional aside about sports to remind the reader that Whitlock's a sportswriter. At the end, he compares Tony to Shaquille O'Neal and himself to Stephon Marbury. Page 2 already has Bill "The Sports Guy" Simmons to cover pop culture. We don't need Whitlock doing it too. Besides, I thought it was cool that I had to check out a TWoP message board the day after this season's second episode aired to get some insight into the extended dream/coma sequence. I LIKE a show that requires more from me than just mindless acceptance. I thought the most interesting parts of this season so far were when Tony was in a coma and everyone in his crew started looking out for themselves. I was actually disappointed when Tony didn't die -- I would have loved to see how the rest of the characters reacted to the massive power vacuum his death would create. And I don't know what show Whitlock is watching, but the "Sopranos" episodes I've seen in the past five weeks have had plenty of "mob stuff," including people getting killed, beaten, and intimidated.

I really like Jason Whitlock's sportswriting, and I've enjoyed his guest appearances on "PTI." I just think he's way out of his element this week.

old photos posted to Flickr

Since I paid for my Flickr account a few months back, I decided I should get some use out of it. Last night and this morning I uploaded some of my photos from past trips to faraway places like London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, and Niagara Falls. If you feel like seeing where I've been, check out the Flickr photos link over there on the right. I'll upload more photos tonight.

Also, this afternoon I got my new camera, a Canon SD550. It's last year's model, so it's not bleeding edge, but it's new enough for me. Considering I was willing to buy a new camera when I was in Tokyo two years ago, I think I waited long enough to get one. Look for new photos soon, most of which will probably be of the cats.

two baseball links for Monday

I missed this story on last night's SportsCenter. Apparently Darren Daulton, the former Phillies star, is completely insane. He thinks he's a time traveler and he's especially attuned to "Higher Powers," among other things.

Also, here's a mash-up of Vin Scully's commentary from Game 6 of the 1986 World Series and a replay of the game on the video game RBI Baseball. It's about eight minutes long, but even for non-baseball fans it's fun to watch.

solo furniture shopping

I spent my Saturday afternoon browsing through different furniture and home stores in Manhattan trying to find a coffee table for my living room. I don't think I've ever gone furniture shopping by myself before, and it's not much fun. At most of the stores, especially Crate and Barrel, I was surrounded by couples, so I felt weird being alone. I also hadn't measured the space in my living room, so I had to guess at what would fit in it. I've figured out that a rectangular table will be far too big, but there aren't many square tables at the proper height for a coffee table. I looked at several "side tables," but those are a little taller than coffee tables and most of them would look out of place in front of the couch. In addition, I need to think about the tabletop. I'm likely going to use it as a foot rest as much as for eating or working, so I need something sturdy. Many coffee tables have glass tops, and I'm not sure I want one -- I'd have to clean it all the time and watch that I didn't put my foot through it. Maybe I should get an ottoman instead. I found a few possibilities, so maybe I'll have one picked out and in my apartment in the next few weeks. And there's always the chance I'll find a gem sitting outside someone else's apartment in my neighborhood.

I also looked at dressers and found a few that were affordable and would look good in my bedroom. That's another purchase that will allow me to get rid of some of the "poor man" plastic drawers I've had forever, and might be even more important than the living room table. I'm getting along OK without a table, but the lack of a dresser is going to hurt in a few weeks when I break out my spring and summer wardrobe. I'll need a place to put all my polo shirts and shorts, and I don't think there's enough room on the shelf in my closet.

My reward for finally getting out and at least looking at furniture was a trip to the Virgin Megastore in Union Square, where they're having a $10 CD and DVD sale. Here's what I picked up:

Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run
Radiohead, OK Computer
The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
Queen, Classic Queen
Moulin Rouge
Stargate

I had hoped to do better, but there wasn't as much that I actually wanted as I thought when I stopped in the store last night. But that way I kept my spending in check. If I'd bought everything I considered buying, I'd have spent two or three times as much. And I'd probably have needed another CD rack at home.

my evening routine

This is what Vladi does to me anytime I sit down to watch TV. I don't think he's drawn blood yet but he does leave little red claw marks on my stomach, no matter how many layers I'm wearing. I'd trim his claws if I could get him to sit still for the procedure.

Now THAT'S a spelling bee!

Two kids in Billings, Montana dueled in a marathon spelling bee for the privilege of moving on to the National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC. It took 16 rounds to eliminate the rest of the field, leaving just two contestants, and then they took turns spelling words for another 25 rounds. The entire spelling bee lasted 4 1/2 hours. I remember a few long spelling bees from my junior high days, but nothing that took 25 rounds between two competitors. That's like a 4-overtime NHL playoff game. When it's over, it's not so much about who won as who survived.

For the record, the closest I got to the National Spelling Bee was finishing fifth in a Pennsylvania regional bee in 1988. I won a dictionary for advancing from the district bee to the regional one. I think my prize as a distant runner-up was a medal and a free pizza lunch.

And before anyone posts it in the comments, I haven't seen Spellbound yet. It's on my Netflix list.

my weekend in Podunk

A few weeks ago, one of my old friends from high school, Avirat, invited me to visit him for the weekend at his house near Harrisburg, PA. I decided that a weekend outside of New York might do me some good, so I took him up on the offer. He invited some other friends from high school to come in as well, so the plan was that it would be a little reunion. I hadn’t seen Avirat since his wedding five years ago, so for that reason alone it was a good idea to go visit him.

I took the train to Harrisburg and got in around 6:30 Friday night. Avirat picked me up at the train station and we talked about what we wanted to do that night. He’d already suggested going to see dirt track auto racing at the track near his house, and since I’d told a few people that that was one of the things I’d be doing, I agreed. The track is a giant oval strip of packed dirt and mud on which they primarily race sprint cars. The track is surrounded by massive fields for parking, on which Isaw all manner of SUVs, motor homes, and pickup trucks. The track was also a BYOB site, so we brought in a cooler full of Miller Lite. Avirat said he normally stands and watches the races from the infield, but we met some of his friends there who were sitting in the main grandstand, so we went up there instead. I’ve never seen so many rednecks in all my life. I felt out of place in my leather coat and a plain gray t-shirt – everyone else had on racing shirts and jackets, flannel, even overalls. The racing was fun to watch. Sprint cars are basically just engines with a seat for the driver and a safety cage, and a giant fin sits on top of the car. And these are huge engines, so the cars make an incredible amount of noise every time they go past. We watched the qualifying heats and the consolation race, and we saw the start of the feature race (the final), but two cars got in a wreck just at the start of the race, and there was a long delay while they cleaned and then dried the track (it had also started to rain). It was late and we weren’t sure when they were going to get the racing under way again, so we went back to his house and hung out for a while, catching up. Since the track is only a mile away, we could hear the final race, about 45 minutes after we left.

On Saturday morning we ran some errands and went shopping at guys’ stores: Best Buy, Lowe’s, Circuit City, and Linens & Things. (OK, on the last one, in my defense Avirat had a coupon and I needed some small kitchen items I’ve been putting off buying for a while.) We still had some time to kill before our other friends came in from Johnstown, so we went back to his house to play Guitar Hero. It’s a Playstation 2 game with a special guitar controller where you listen to a song and play along using the colored frets on the guitar neck and “strumming” the notes with a up/down switch where the strings would go. The “notes” scroll by in “Dance Dance Revolution” style, and you have to press the frets and strum in time with the music. It looks and sounds ridiculous, but it’s surprisingly fun to play, and addictive to boot. About half the songs in the game were ones that I knew (“Cochise,” “Iron Man,” “I Love Rock & Roll,” “Crossroads,” “Take Me Out” are just a few) and I really enjoyed playing the game, trying to fumble through some of the tougher songs. In particular, I played “Bark At The Moon” three or four times until I was able to “beat” the song, like getting through a level in a FPS. By this time our Johnstown friends had arrived, and we headed out for the evening.

We went to a BBQ joint near Avirat’s house for dinner. It wasn’t a chain restaurant, but someone had evidently been to Red, Hot, and Blue and Corky’s, or other similar BBQ restaurants, because the décor was photos of blues artists and posters from blues festivals. But the food was excellent.

Our first stop was a microbrew bar in Yocumville, somewhere outside of Harrisburg. This bar had about 40 small brews on tap, so each of us got something different and we just stayed long enough to have one. Before long we were in downtown Harrisburg, at a place called The Hardware Bar. It’s a three-story bar: the ground floor has a live band and the female bartenders dance on the bar, the second floor is a lounge with beds and couches, and the third floor is a dance club. We spent the whole night on the ground floor listening to the cover band and watching the show from a small balcony that overlooks the stage. The band was better than I expected for a cover band, and the crowd really got into the music. We had planned to go bar-hopping to a few other places on the same street but we were having too much fun to leave. When the show ended at 1 AM, we fortified ourselves for the drive home with a slice of pizza (I haven’t done the late-night post-bar food run in years) and got back to Avirat’s house around 2 AM. Somehow we remembered to change the clocks so I wouldn’t be late for my train on Sunday afternoon.

On Sunday we got up late and didn’t have time to do much besides stop for a quick lunch on the way back to the train station. I spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon relaxing on the train reading Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, which my college friend Jon sent to me just before the Super Bowl. The cats were excited to see me safely home again after I abandoned them for the weekend (I did have a friend check on them yesterday).

And tonight, Robot Chicken returned. The “Superman” reference in the opening was hysterical.