Here is our dainty little darling eating her wet food with her paw:

Thai is adjusting beautifully today, her first day with her new family.

I’m planning to blog a bit more, maybe some short posts using the iPhone Wordpress app…

Misha and I are ready to adopt a cat, so today we went to the Metrowest Animal Awareness Society’s “Meow Mixer” in Hudson. No single cat made a mutually huge impression on us, but we did buy some essentials for the day that we do bring home our new little family member. Then it was on to the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA) in Jamaica Plain. It was incredibly busy. We spent a good amount of time there, but really had no chance on getting a cat or young kitten that would make a big impression on us. You would have had to be very aggressive… We’ll certainly return soon, as they bring other cats out for adoption daily.

After an errand in Central Square, Cambridge, we went to Lanes & Games where we bought bowling shoes. They have a handful of pinball games–Family Guy, Monopoly, Sopranos and two others that were off–Scared Stiff and NASCAR. The three games that were working all needed repairs. I did talk pinball with a father of two little girls who were playing very well. It was nice to have a face to face conversation with a person that at least has a casual interest in pinball.

This was a day out of my fantasy–a tiny little wedding in western Mass with my family and a handful of my closest friends.

I’m posting this now because I finally had the time to go through all the photos that the wedding photographer sent.

And here’s another shot from another mini golf place in Port Richey, FL. This Elvis machine is working beautifully.

Me, my mom, Misha, her mom, her brother, and our pastor took a trip to the wedding site. It might be our last trip out there until the rehearsal date. Jon gave us an unplugged performance of his original instrumental he’ll be performing at our wedding. We decided on how we’ll use the back yard and the deck during the ceremony.

The girls checked out wedding cakes at Atkins Farms. We ate at the Thai restaurant in Northampton that will be catering. Pastor Bob had to head back east for a special music program, so the rest of us drove up to the top of Mt. Holyoke. The summit house was open!

The planning is going to easily. We have a lot of support from our families and closest friends. We are so grateful.

I was a little disappointed with the menu. The front side seemed to be all Chinese food and the back maybe half Thai and half Chinese food–good for my dad, who only likes Chinese when it comes to Asian food. But where were the Vietnamese and Cambodian sections?

My dad ordered some combination of chicken and rice and hot and sour soup. He thought the soup was spicier than he’s used to and lacked some veggies that he’s used to. My mom ordered Pad Thai with Shrimp and rice and an egg drop soup which she loved. I ordered a large Tom Yam vegetable soup. The flavor was fantastic–very spicy with a subtle citrus taste. In the soup were broccoli, carrots, baby corn, mushrooms, ginger, and a few other leaves that I’m not 100% sure of. I also tried my dad’s Chinese food and finished off my mom’s Pad Thai. Both were fine. My mom enjoyed hers.

We were served by two waitresses who were both very friendly and attentive. One waitress noticed that I didn’t eat the mushrooms in my soup. She said next time I could order without mushrooms. Nice to know they’re happy to take custom orders. I like to become friendly before asking for customizations.

A dessert poster was on the wall. The waitress brought me a dessert catalog–not a menu–from the company Bindi. She had marked which desserts they offer. She said a proper dessert menu is coming soon. (I just clicked over to their web site and found exactly what we ordered.) I had Coppa Stracciatella (chocolate syrup, chocolate chip gelato, topped with cocoa powder and hazelnuts, presented in a dessert glass cup). It was good and a perfect size so I didn’t overdo it. My mom had Flute Limoncello (refreshing lemon gelato swirled together with limoncello, presented in a champagne glass). I had a taste and it was very flavorful. My dad had ginger ice cream. I tried it and thought it was mild. He said he couldn’t taste any ginger at all.

For all three of us, just drinking water and hot tea, the bill was only $36 and change–very inexpensive for our food and dessert. We liked the service and the food and we’ll definitely be back. Their sign should probably list Chinese food first, but that’s a minor complaint.

Here’s the iPhone 3G S (32 gig) sitting on my desk on Friday, still in its box, just shipped from China. I spent a good portion of yesterday (Saturday) day using it, customizing it, trying out different applications, and moving my data from my old phone onto it. The setup was easy. I had already given Apple/AT&T my former Verizon account information. When I plugged the iPhone into my computer via USB and launched iTunes, it went into a setup process that initialized my phone and transferred my phone service from Verizon to AT&T without me having to think about it. Once iTunes said I was all set, I was all set! I could make calls immediately.

When my phone was initialized, the first thing I did was to place it into the skin I bought last week at the Apple store in Natick, MA. It’s a Speck brand Tough Skin, one of the bulkier iPhone skins that should offer extra shock protection. Although I also bought an anti-glare screen protector, I decided to leave it off for now. I hope I don’t regret that decision. I plan to be very careful as to where I place my iPhone, especially when it’s in my pocket or being transported in a bag.

I love being able to listen to podcasts, e-mail, use Twitter, Facebook, and browse the web on the phone.

The apps that I’ve kept–all free–include:
Google Earth
The Weather Channel
OrbLive Free
Evernote
Just Light
i.TV
Speed Test
Yelp
TweetDeck
AIM
Y! Messenger
Facebook
Skype
MySpace

http://read.kiss-fist.com/

Click on issue #5, page 8. My photo credit is on page 81.