tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-186242582024-03-14T04:13:31.071-05:00Minus the SilencerSeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.comBlogger75125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-54177747919812452992008-08-15T20:27:00.000-05:002008-09-25T12:50:35.733-05:00Italy in AugustThe story starts in the summer of 1991 when I moved with my family to Naples, Italy for the sake of my father's job. We spent three years there and in the process I made a lot of great friends, most of whom I unfortunately lost contact with after moving back to the States. Only in the past few years with the help of MySpace and Facebook have I been able to reconnect with these folks. One of those I reconnected with was Veronica, a beautiful Italian girl who had moved to Alexandria, Virginia where I met up with her in the summer of 2006 shortly after I myself moved to nearby Arlington. Earlier this year she sent me an email with a whopper of a news item: she was getting married and would I be interested in attending the wedding? I immediately jumped at the opportunity.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjm05XMk6RHtaUOFqqRqICATdi5mDt-fn11NLP6Wbf0vjtqdh1IG_jzVTPMpMO-OlO0PN2KDjLnMUk7PfYumtxgXN2M_GZVyqwELcUIE87Qh_eQajjwFT47xKntAn6IBprDr-_/s1600-h/IMG_0660.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjm05XMk6RHtaUOFqqRqICATdi5mDt-fn11NLP6Wbf0vjtqdh1IG_jzVTPMpMO-OlO0PN2KDjLnMUk7PfYumtxgXN2M_GZVyqwELcUIE87Qh_eQajjwFT47xKntAn6IBprDr-_/s200/IMG_0660.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250017300472509362" border="0" /></a>With maps printed, itineraries checked and travel books in hand, Sabrina and I took off on a direct flight from Dulles to Fiumcino-Rome airport on August 6th. The plan was to pick up a rental car when we arrived, drive to Naples and spend the next three days there. After having attended the wedding and seen some of my old haunts, we would drive back to the Fiumcino-Rome airport, drop the car off and take the train into Rome, approximately 30 minutes from the airport.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQGdRsKWarSDdMkDb8QZbUoffQqkVeSWwjyt7XSnYZiiks0hkhwBpeoKmTRgIvH19zTKRSd1Wx4j43XVxU3RWGNKhH8XEwvRPBKmxZmD270Lf6KywF5Pxi2xcB0yhpZnvxMUc7/s1600-h/IMG_0682.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQGdRsKWarSDdMkDb8QZbUoffQqkVeSWwjyt7XSnYZiiks0hkhwBpeoKmTRgIvH19zTKRSd1Wx4j43XVxU3RWGNKhH8XEwvRPBKmxZmD270Lf6KywF5Pxi2xcB0yhpZnvxMUc7/s200/IMG_0682.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250017402160363938" border="0" /></a>You know what they say about the best laid plans. Veronica's wedding was spectacular and her and her new husband, Salvatore, were such wonderful hosts that we ended up staying another day. In addition I met up with an old classmate of mine from Naples, Deanna, who was one of Veronica's bridesmaids. Over the course of just a few days our tight-knit group of 10 people hit up some of the best that Naples had to offer including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solfatara_%28volcano%29">Solfatara</a>, the Anfiteatro Flavio and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capri">Capri</a>. These highlights in addition to the wonderful Neopolitan shellfish-based dishes that seemed to be offered at every restaurant in the area made for an amazing time.<br /><br />Much later in the evening on the 10th of August than intended, Sabrina and I hopped in the rental car and headed to Rome. Tired from a full day of activities on the island of Capri, we nonetheless resolved to be in warm comfortable beds that night. We reached Fiumcino-Rome airport near midnight and found nearly all the nearby gas stations closed. The few that were open did not have diesel save for one, a Q8 station which did not like American credit cards. As a result, we burned through all our remaining Euros and still had only filled the tank to ¾ capacity. Rather than continue racing through traffic circles looking for open stations with diesel, we resigned ourselves to having to pay the rental car company to refill the tank completely and dropped off the car.<br /><br />Unfortunately by this time the train to Rome had stopped service meaning we had to get a cab which was estimated to be about 50 Euros. Yet we had spent all our Euros on the gas and none of the ATMs in the airport were accepting my debit card. I then happened upon a car service which though they did not take credit cards would be willing to stop by an ATM in Rome to get the cash out. Naturally it would cost a bit more but their English was good (my attempt at speaking Italian had reverted to little more than gutteral sounds by this point due to frustration and general exhaustion) and it would be in style: a Mercedes-Benz. Our driver, sensing our mounting frustration, raced into the city at over 160 km/h. We had to make several stops before finally finding an ATM that would spit out cash. So we eventually did end up in warm comfortable beds as we resolved to do but a hundred Euros shorter than expected.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOchNvuhP4H6GRlbsUQOptTbpaO2dOsPB-wEE0u8rvyuEH0-dNmf8mPzon_meCBuYF6G7lPWu9rYvF4O4Ouq6aNjh90uUrgLNaUwELoNMaK7bucS0s3IcSom74M_3k1A5xPwY9/s1600-h/IMG_1084.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOchNvuhP4H6GRlbsUQOptTbpaO2dOsPB-wEE0u8rvyuEH0-dNmf8mPzon_meCBuYF6G7lPWu9rYvF4O4Ouq6aNjh90uUrgLNaUwELoNMaK7bucS0s3IcSom74M_3k1A5xPwY9/s200/IMG_1084.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250017485598065474" border="0" /></a>Our time in Rome, though longer than what we spent in Naples, seemed somehow shorter. By the end of the first day we'd seen nearly everything. The Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and the Colosseum were our first conquests. Our remaining days saw us going to the Vatican, the Palatine hill and even the Jewish Ghetto. Throwing away our Washington, D.C.-tuned sense of direction, we did as Romans did and picked a place and walked towards it, climbing over or going around whatever ancient ruins lay in our way. If a tiny alleyway branched off our current route that seemed to be better pointed in the direction we wanted, then we'd go down that, making sure to avoid the mopeds racing through it. And if we saw a <a href="http://goitaly.about.com/od/italytravelglossary/g/gelateria.htm">gelateria</a> with flavors we liked, then we'd stop and get some ice cream. What with its creamy texture and amazing flavor, Italian gelato is far superior to anything that can be found Stateside.<br /><br />After having visited what seemed like every spot on our maps, the day arrived when we were to head back to the States. An early wake-up along with a quick breakfast saw us out the door and at the nearby Termini train station by 7am. The Leonardi da Vinci Express had us to the Fiumcino-Rome airport by 8am and our flight took off with just a slight delay. I'm writing this as we fly over the Atlantic and I can't help but think that we'll both miss Italy, especially Naples. Despite the inconvenience of having to search for an ATM that will take your card or the horridly high prices thanks to the state the dollar is currently in, it was an awesome trip and one that neither of us will soon forget.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-34267062826597600092008-03-27T12:39:00.007-05:002008-03-30T18:56:27.729-05:00San Diego, New York and back to DCOriginally planned as a week long trip between Washington, D.C. and San Diego to see friends and family, my vacation was unexpectedly extended when my friend Adam from Melbourne informed me that he'd be in New York for a week. At first I was hesitant to give up what was essentially a free ticket bought with miles but after figuring that I would probably revisit San Diego later in the year anyways, I canceled my reservations and booked two one-way flights on different carriers. However I still had the issue of how to get from New York back to Washington, D.C., thus completing my isosceles triangle of travel. For that I turned to Amtrak, whose Carolinian service I am currently on as I write this blog entry.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCkXWyDkZ_E1wiSS9kTXuDSptXtQWTymhBHcCoPReQDSZe3XI2NoUo2QSk4tJ8bJF1bVKjoU2mVibfXTwCSbkgCKHSYO9g4v-lJbFO2IW-HPW_pfbheZEbixA1j5OATUTk6J1b/s1600-h/carlsbad.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCkXWyDkZ_E1wiSS9kTXuDSptXtQWTymhBHcCoPReQDSZe3XI2NoUo2QSk4tJ8bJF1bVKjoU2mVibfXTwCSbkgCKHSYO9g4v-lJbFO2IW-HPW_pfbheZEbixA1j5OATUTk6J1b/s200/carlsbad.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183593445992052242" border="0" /></a>Rising early on the morning of March 19th, I made my way down to the lobby of my apartment complex to wait for a cab. Normally I would take the Metro seeing as I live so close to Reagan National but due to the absurdly early departure time of 5:45am, there simply wouldn't be enough time given Metro's opening hour of 5:00am. With a single stop in Charlotte, my flight was uneventful and even arrived about 25 minutes early in San Diego. A short drive later courtesy of my dad and I was back in Carlsbad.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij_36FOLAhqMN9CWrdlQ4CALlGjjVsgqubBVF1dX-NLADkAMJFvkVbEfZ62g2o7GyNr2yAjSEXZgrP47zem-dxItZxMVRKE2Xy6DEnlQkW9Gag-PCL25RxQy9JK8mNM-DTAyhF/s1600-h/greg+nicole+and+tom.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij_36FOLAhqMN9CWrdlQ4CALlGjjVsgqubBVF1dX-NLADkAMJFvkVbEfZ62g2o7GyNr2yAjSEXZgrP47zem-dxItZxMVRKE2Xy6DEnlQkW9Gag-PCL25RxQy9JK8mNM-DTAyhF/s200/greg+nicole+and+tom.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183594034402571810" border="0" /></a>The time spent in my hometown was both enjoyable and relaxing. Hanging out with my friends Greg, Jeff and Nicole was a blast and I spent my evenings at watering holes both new and old. My main reason for returning was to attend an Eagle Scout ceremony but that was canceled. I did however attend the locally famous Troop 748 Pancake Breakfast. Fellow scouts that I hadn't seen in <span style="font-style: italic;">years</span> were there and indeed, some had changed beyond initial recognition. Besides Scouting events, spending time with family at Easter was also a reason for visiting and my relatives did not disappoint. Throw in Dad's incredible smoked lamb and you had an Easter worthy of legend.<br /><br />Tuesday came sooner than I thought it would but with only a four and a half hour flight separating me from the Big Apple, I was eagerly anticipating my travels. The flight was uneventful and taking advantage of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airtrain_JFK">AirTrain</a> service from JFK to Jamaica Station, I then boarded a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island_Rail_Road">LIRR</a> train for Penn Station. I had originally planned on taking the <a href="http://www.mta.info/nyct/service/eline.htm">E train</a> but several web sources recommended the LIRR as it was faster and more convenient. I ended up booking my hotel stay in a recently remodeled room of the Ramada New Yorker located at 34th and 8th. If all you're looking for is a bed with attached bathroom, versus a communal bathroom, then this is a great choice. A sub $200 room in the heart of the city can't be beat.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYEf0G0dbFuf4ZpbyMbrqous4YTcHS560ihzhhE0OpRMvFlDl4AQYW_eQH3Wx844zrjF99GWBSjh3DozhoytLJe9Zl4UQe-1yB3VA6aYHA0ZPpH04i-7jd8EX7EvFO05xNJs7a/s1600-h/dont+tell+mama.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYEf0G0dbFuf4ZpbyMbrqous4YTcHS560ihzhhE0OpRMvFlDl4AQYW_eQH3Wx844zrjF99GWBSjh3DozhoytLJe9Zl4UQe-1yB3VA6aYHA0ZPpH04i-7jd8EX7EvFO05xNJs7a/s200/dont+tell+mama.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183595421677008434" border="0" /></a>During my time in Melbourne, I had the great fortune of befriending a very talented group of people who worked and volunteered at the local community theater known as the <a href="http://www.henegar.org/">Henegar</a>. In the course of the previous two years, several of them had managed to find their way to New York to pursue careers on the stage. One in particular, Vinny, was playing at a cabaret called Don't Tell Mama near 46th and 8th. A small yet cozy club, the show itself was a showcase of six different performers with each doing two songs of choice. Vinny's rendition of "The Best is Yet to Come" was in my mind the best performance that night but then I do admit to a bit of bias.<br /><br />The next day found me in line early along with Adam at <a href="http://www.tdf.org/tkts">TKTS</a> hoping to score tickets to a matinee show for a reduced price. As it was, tickets for <a href="http://www.youngfrankensteinthemusical.com/">Young Frankenstein</a> were available so we scooped those up and then made our way up to Central Park where we spent a few hours rehashing old times. On our way back down to the Theater District we stopped off at <a href="http://www.carnegiedeli.com/">Carnegie Deli</a> so I could finally get that New York-style kosher tongue sandwich I'd been jonesing for. I was not disappointed. I think it's the <span style="font-style: italic;">idea</span> of eating tongue that turns people off to the idea more than anything. But in fact, it tastes and looks similar to pastrami save of course for the still visible taste buds.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgomBB5HX-PG5Nmmz-mdrx_I0yAr97hspcTopECJSiIeDM6ZJfPApKybQUHEoUm8h2BzP-xlwEhUub5yxhLloiTIWrhMl6OQU31OmssExtQ25RmLEviViWLMbDySVDRJf6GZ4tB/s1600-h/young+frankenstein.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgomBB5HX-PG5Nmmz-mdrx_I0yAr97hspcTopECJSiIeDM6ZJfPApKybQUHEoUm8h2BzP-xlwEhUub5yxhLloiTIWrhMl6OQU31OmssExtQ25RmLEviViWLMbDySVDRJf6GZ4tB/s200/young+frankenstein.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183684958860228162" border="0" /></a>Showing at the Hilton Theater, Young Frankenstein absolutely floored both Adam and myself. Based on Mel Brooks' movie of the same name, it follows the comical adventures of a young Dr. Frankenstein (pronounced <span style="font-style: italic;">steen</span>) upon his return to Transylvania. Played by <a href="http://imdb.com/name/nm0058372/">Roger Bart</a>, the part required energy and timing befitting such an amazing actor. Yet I think many in the audience would agree that the character of Igor is what really shone through. With his randomly appearing hump, witty lines and amazing voice, <a href="http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=102301">Christopher Fitzgerald</a>, who played the role, stole the show. Despite the <a href="http://backstage.blogs.com/blogstage/2007/11/mixed-reviews-f.html">harsh critiques</a> the show has received, I highly recommend this to both fans and non-fans alike.<br /><br />Unexpectedly, Adam's friend Johnny managed to score us free tickets to an evening showing of <a href="http://www.legallyblondethemusical.com/">Legally Blonde</a> playing at the <a href="http://www.palacetheaternewyork.com/">Palace Theater</a>. Not being a show that I would ever buy tickets to, I went with an open mind hoping for the best but expecting anything. To say the least, I was throughly impressed. I had seen the movie once before but didn't have any particular attachment to it. The musical though brought an energy and audience rapport that simply doesn't translate to the silver screen. Armed with song, dance and love, the leading lady, Elle Woods, gains matriculation at Harvard Law to win back the affections of her now ex-boyfriend Warner. She soon realizes though that she will never be back together with him and dives into her studies for their own sake. Fending off unwanted advances from her professor, she strikes her own path and uses her Harvard-trained mind in tandem with her Malibu-honed social skills to win her client's trust and freedom. When the curtains came down, the audience was in rapturous applause giving the cast a standing ovation for some minutes. This is another show I would highly recommend.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMZv-mVTaiCf8nhWN3AhHdEn5eaR9C7ycglcPr61ELA8Dyr4IuT5XKOzFgdKGf-ie8NEh2k-FMEM7ac2M0rFj0ZvAobBGZaY2JIxBY0p8X78LeqfCL-pk45FXloXUFJlX958GF/s1600-h/times+sqaure.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMZv-mVTaiCf8nhWN3AhHdEn5eaR9C7ycglcPr61ELA8Dyr4IuT5XKOzFgdKGf-ie8NEh2k-FMEM7ac2M0rFj0ZvAobBGZaY2JIxBY0p8X78LeqfCL-pk45FXloXUFJlX958GF/s200/times+sqaure.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183685646054995538" border="0" /></a>Having made my goodbyes to Adam, I decided to make a stop before going back to my hotel. <a href="http://www.juniorscheesecake.com/">Junior's</a>, famous for its cheesecakes, operates a restaurant at 45th and 7th in the heart of Times Square. Sidling up to the bar, I ordered an orange liquer and coffee concoction along with a lox and bagel sandwich. I topped it off with a chocolate swirl cheesecake, the same that I've enjoyed for years thanks to freeze-dried packaging and overnight shipping. Satiated beyond measure, I made my way back to the hotel and hit the sack. If there were a theme to this vacation, it would be friends and family both of whom I appreciate more and more in my life as I get older.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-32185035785793206982008-02-29T13:58:00.006-05:002008-03-30T12:37:14.303-05:00The Best SciFi on TelevisionHaving spent my formative years during a time when Star Trek had multiple shows running, my view of scifi was significantly influenced by it. For me, the future was supposed to be filled with humans and aliens working side by side while computers would take care of all the mundane paperwork. In fact, I can't recall seeing a single sheet of paper in any of the post Star Trek: TNG shows.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEJWAXkoPilgEUXjD2vHAIGR_m9UoxJt4ywZt_POxTFSsZfT8mqT_mobRKBKbQ738wbykIRke4FDnLMv9d089qdqZzE44QpLXZ1Quv7yljLSdMzDcfRxMqWeVKJTCQG67r1AXG/s1600-h/cylon.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEJWAXkoPilgEUXjD2vHAIGR_m9UoxJt4ywZt_POxTFSsZfT8mqT_mobRKBKbQ738wbykIRke4FDnLMv9d089qdqZzE44QpLXZ1Quv7yljLSdMzDcfRxMqWeVKJTCQG67r1AXG/s200/cylon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183589786679916018" border="0" /></a>Standing in stark contrast is the future painted by the television show <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_%282004_TV_series%29">Battlestar Galactica</a>. The Cylons, a race of humanoid robots created by Man, are the arch-nemesis of humanity and given the nature of their creation have a knack for messing with computer systems. Thus, paper abounds and even the most basic computer systems are treated with suspicion.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaBneyVq4vKJlNeuvybbO4p_l1TGNbDHoe2Kat9B8rX08hEsjAsuuxtCpUKGfmv4KiN25fw83SQyKYd1XBKiTpnkgO9l6dSoiRyu1ra_fZsj7nN0m9c3kr-NHmXsosc5pW2HYs/s1600-h/bsg+season+3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaBneyVq4vKJlNeuvybbO4p_l1TGNbDHoe2Kat9B8rX08hEsjAsuuxtCpUKGfmv4KiN25fw83SQyKYd1XBKiTpnkgO9l6dSoiRyu1ra_fZsj7nN0m9c3kr-NHmXsosc5pW2HYs/s200/bsg+season+3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183589902644033026" border="0" /></a>Being a fan of scifi television I'd heard many things about the show and had even tried watching a few episodes, albeit without any knowledge of the characters or their back story. It never caught my interest. But after starting work at Revolution, I quickly discovered that many of my geek colleagues were not only fans of the show, but downright passionate about it with some even downloading it to their iPods and watching it during their daily Metro commute.<br /><br />On a leap of faith, I asked for <a href="http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Season_1_%282004-05%29">season one</a> on DVD for Christmas and by the time New Years rolled around I had finished it. This was an addiction I was not prepared for. <a href="http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Season_2">Season two</a> followed a few weeks later and then <a href="http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Season_3">season three</a> and finally <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica:_Razor">Razor</a>. In just a little over a month, <a href="http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Season_4">season four</a> will finally be debuting and I for one can hardly wait.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-38546283286703316702008-01-25T14:09:00.000-05:002008-02-06T22:02:02.814-05:00A trip to New York with the Brazilians<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCqsg8m13YpbMv1UZS0OZXAKIG3Ez0R5DVCO3gv5d2WZvrmsp4I3l8thFTS4D4-Gk0nDEx1xIw9QrWRVdWt4BpW7hmQz-ocs1J0_SPndAcLBeeqcyNMWNwob5zFsiqEBLczK30/s1600-h/IMG_2269.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCqsg8m13YpbMv1UZS0OZXAKIG3Ez0R5DVCO3gv5d2WZvrmsp4I3l8thFTS4D4-Gk0nDEx1xIw9QrWRVdWt4BpW7hmQz-ocs1J0_SPndAcLBeeqcyNMWNwob5zFsiqEBLczK30/s200/IMG_2269.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5164067497221423106" border="0" /></a>Early last week I received an urgent message from my Brazilian buddy Tony imploring me to come to New York for the weekend to hang out with him and his brother Beto who had been working there for the previous six months and wanted to spend his remaining weekend there partying. At first I protested but by Wednesday I'd gone ahead and purchased a ticket for myself on the very convenient <a href="http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10024825">Chinatown bus</a>.<br /><br />As 2 o'clock on Friday afternoon approached, I quickly gathered my belongings for the short one block trip to where the bus would pick me up. A quick scan of the printout with my reservation number by the bus driver and I was in a comfortable chair awaiting the four hour journey to The Big Apple. Traffic coming out of Washington, D.C. was light and within the hour we were through the Fort McHenry tunnel near Baltimore, M.D.<br /><br />Drifting in and out of sleep while reading the latest issue of the <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/">New Scientist</a>, I awoke with a start to see the Empire State Building far off in the distance. Yet my excitement was quickly tamped down by the reality awaiting us outside the Lincoln Tunnel: traffic the likes of which I hadn't seen in some time. After nearly an hour of crawling through a jungle of blaring horns and red taillights, we emerged onto Manhattan and made our way to 34th and 8th near Penn Station to be dropped off. A short subway ride later to the 50th St. stop and I was standing outside Beto's corporate apartment.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIPkEV8wCBGHZvo2DjFa5kwEGqsTyhrczHRpAVhJqDh-DAeMFD-sdZEVXm9NS7QhAYkWLOXZS_hbA4_6qV7a7Cbg2OflL-kLq2ueirWM3tqlIqUkl3nYgkO5tdupGWWPumrbAI/s1600-h/IMG_2242.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIPkEV8wCBGHZvo2DjFa5kwEGqsTyhrczHRpAVhJqDh-DAeMFD-sdZEVXm9NS7QhAYkWLOXZS_hbA4_6qV7a7Cbg2OflL-kLq2ueirWM3tqlIqUkl3nYgkO5tdupGWWPumrbAI/s200/IMG_2242.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5164068119991681042" border="0" /></a>Relatively speaking, my first night in New York was calm. We started off the evening at a nearby street vendor to savor what Beto called the best gyro in the city. Indeed, to judge by the line which stretched half a city block, this particular vendor had <a href="http://www.streetgrub.com/comment?id=6">good reviews</a>. I myself was quite impressed with the mixed combination gyro and the accompanying yogurt sauce. Eventually we made our way to East Village and after wandering through several bars in the area, we settled on a honky tonk joint called the Mason Dixon. After an hour or so there, we caught a cab back to Midtown and stopped in for a night cap at a place called Vintage not too far from Beto's pad.<br /><br />The next day started around 1pm at a place called Nero's in the Meatpacking District. Barbara, a neighbor of my friends from back in Brazil and who was now working in New York, met us there along with her boyfriend Adriano. The brunch advertised was two hours of all you can drink with a choice of meal included for $20. Not bad for Manhattan prices. Well over two hours later, heads buzzing from copious amounts of champagne, we wandered out of the restaurant and into the nearby multi-story Apple store in Chelsea before finally making our way back north to the apartment where I enjoyed a much deserved nap.<br /><br />That evening Tony insisted that we head to Central Park so we could ice skate on Donald Trump's famous Wollman Rink. Admittedly I was a bit hesitant to engage in an activity which a decade previous had left me with a slight case of amnesia after taking a fall and hitting my head. But I nevertheless took those tentative first few steps back onto the ice and was surprised at both the natural sense of balance I enjoyed and the speed with which my long-dormant skills returned. Within ten minutes I was racing around the rink relishing the feel of the cold air on my face.<br /><br />Alas, after only an hour or so Tony and I were both tired and so we journeyed back to Beto's apartment for some rest before getting ready to go out again, this time to a place called Katra on the Lower East Side. A Middle Eastern-themed 'lounge', it was extremely crowded which made getting to the bar difficult at best. But seeing as I'd been drinking for the better part of the day, I wasn't interested in getting drunk. So after a few hours of that, we made the journey once more to Midtown.<br /><br />Sleep came just before dawn but I wasn't asleep for long as we had made plans to head to Connecticut that day. My hosts, Brazilian to the core, were family friends of another Brazilian nicknamed Toninho (Little Tony) who lived in Westport about an hour north of the city. Dragging ourselves out of bed and down to Grand Central, we rushed to buy our tickets and hopped on the 12:07pm heading to New Haven. The commuter train itself was quite nice and proved a smooth enough ride for me to nap for a spell.<br /><br />Shortly after arriving in Westport, Toninho was there to pick us up and take us to his exquisite house just a few miles from the station. In many ways, it reminded me of visiting my Brazilian friends' family back in Sete Lagos what with the chattering in Portuguese, the Samba music in the background and of course the feijoada. Brazilian beer in the form of Skol was also there in addition to several types of cachaça. Despite how wonderful it all was we couldn't stay there forever so when evening rolled around we hopped back on the train for the hour-long ride back to New York.<br /><br />Our last night in New York was a poignant one and we spent it at an Irish bar just a few blocks away. Guinness and old stories were what was imbibed and we enjoyed each to the last drop. I called it early so as to avoid missing my bus the next morning and as I walked back by myself I couldn't help but think how much I loved this city, despite the 2°F wind chill. And I know that someday, hopefully when it's warmer, I will come back.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-58636391793327273322007-12-09T22:24:00.000-05:002007-12-10T00:03:41.471-05:00Latest going onsWhere do I begin? I've had a lot of great ideas for blog entries these past few months but finding the time to enter them has been difficult to say the least. So I guess we'll start with the thing that has been eating up the majority of my time: work.<br /><br />Two months ago things were going swimmingly well and then out of the blue came what is known in the industry as a strategic restructuring, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/23/AR2007102302127.html">a layoff</a>. In this case it was about 25% of the workforce and despite my best hopes otherwise, several of my very good friends and colleagues were included in the cut. After all the sacrifices I'd made to get to this company and after all the 60-hour-plus work weeks, I'd begun to question whether it was still the right place for me.<br /><br />Despite some tempting propositions from area recruiters who had heard the news of the mass layoffs, I decided to stay put and see if the situation would improve. Even with the loss of resources, I felt we still had the best collection of Ruby/Rails talent in the area. Within a month's time we were able to make a <a href="http://revolutiononrails.blogspot.com/2007/11/enhanced-migrations-v120.html">new post</a> to our collective technology-oriented blog, one which happened to pertain to a project I was working on. So provided that things continue to go well and I am able to make viable contributions to our code-base, I see no reason not to stay put for the time being.<br /><br />As to what takes up the next largest portion of my time, that would have to be WoW. A lot has happened since I last posted on the topic. In early June I took my then main character, a druid, over to Shu'Halo so I could game with a buddy of mine. But his interest in the game began to wane as did my interest in playing a <a href="http://minusthesilencer.blogspot.com/2007/04/making-switch-to-moonkin.html">Moonkin</a> which is essentially a caster that can't really cast that well. This became only more obvious when I finally hit level 70 and I kept getting passed over to do instance runs in favor of mages.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf2MYrhy-SlvBVpMMyed_So3l_9Gc4-D-vEYXIo7GZBlHs6eIJjoH2rx_6fmvI8pKcuk5vYMMnAprbbes_iL_iHiVbPSKKrz5cZ66nc2EFQLtL9XWNtvHvnh0Btdt8DAV_ELwt/s1600-h/Katyenka+on+the+Deeprun+Tram.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf2MYrhy-SlvBVpMMyed_So3l_9Gc4-D-vEYXIo7GZBlHs6eIJjoH2rx_6fmvI8pKcuk5vYMMnAprbbes_iL_iHiVbPSKKrz5cZ66nc2EFQLtL9XWNtvHvnh0Btdt8DAV_ELwt/s200/Katyenka+on+the+Deeprun+Tram.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142203697377220594" border="0" /></a>As such, I decided to do a bit of research and came to the conclusion that if I really wanted to do pure DPS and have the benefit of crowd control and an aggro-dump, then I'd need to roll a mage myself. It also helped that a buddy of mine from work had a low-level warlock that he was interested in leveling. For me the change was not only in character class but also in play style. Whereas I had leveled my druid on a <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/PvE">PvE</a> server, this character would live on a high pop <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/PvP">PvP</a> server.<br /><br />After dedicating several months of on-and-off play to her, my <a href="http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Skullcrusher&n=Katyenka">Dranei mage</a> just recently hit level 63 and ought to be level 70 within a few weeks. By then my parents will be in town as they're visiting me for the holidays so my time online will be pretty much scotched until the new year. Hopefully in the future I will be able to juggle my time between work and WoW more effectively so that I can blog about events in my life closer to real-time.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-89031705134960018202007-09-12T20:57:00.001-05:002007-10-29T21:37:01.229-05:00Trip to California<u>Day 1</u><br />Despite the early departure time from Washington, D.C. we arrived in San Diego fairly awake and ready to get on with our vacation. First time was Milton's, a wonderful Kosher deli and restaurant located in Del Mar. Over the past few years it has become my unofficial welcoming pad, the first place I stop at to address the hunger pangs a six hour flight induces.<br /><br />Between my previous visit in December and now, my parents got what I thought they never would: a dog! And not just any dog mind you but a huge hulking Leon Berger mix. We immediately went for a walk on the beach so as we could all get to know each other better. Walking such a dog was a bit of a challenge at first. He kept wanting to walk directly in front of me thus forcing me to hold the leash to my left side. It's safe to say that after about 20 minutes of this anybody would feel some fatigue in their shoulders as a result.<br /><br />Evening came quickly and with it, an incredible meal at Gregorio's, a local Italian restaurant situated in the Neiman's complex of shops. Since I hadn't seen my buddy Jeff in so long, I invited him to join us. Being the amazing agent that he is, he kept us enthralled with stories of heroism in the escalating real estate wars that are gripping this country. Afterwards Jeff gave us a brief tour of Carlsbad in his exquisitely maintained Lexus LS400, pointing out the best places in town to invest in for real estate.<br /><br /><u>Day 2</u><br />I hadn't been to the Wild Animal Park in several years so I was glad to see what changes, if any, this visit to the park would hold. Surprisingly enough, there were some big changes. The electrified tram which was a hallmark of the park was no longer there and had been replaced with a gas-guzzling tractor which pulled passenger carts behind it. The new setup wasn't altogether bad but was just different than what I'd been used to in the previous 20 years of visiting.<br /><br />That night we went to one of Carlsbad's newest 'chic' restaurants. Honestly, when I walked in I thought I'd been teleported from my sleepy home town to some new dig in Midtown. My Grandpa Gene treated us to a fantastic dinner and several bottles of <a href="http://corkd.com/wine/view/14580-2004_Mark_West_Pinot_Noir">Mark West Pinot Noir</a>, an excellent accoutrement to any meal.<br /><br /><u>Day 3</u><br />Our third day saw us jumping in the car in the morning for a trip south to Balboa Park near downtown San Diego. Having just seen the Wild Animal Park the previous day, we were not interested in the Zoo but instead the Museum of Man. I hadn't been there in decades at the very least and was looking forward to seeing what was in store.<br /><br />Built in an old Spanish colonial style, the museum resembles many of the missions scattered throughout California. On display inside were mummies of various cultures throughout history, human evolution over the past 7 million years and a collection of life-sized replicas of Mayan stonework. Reaching several stories high, this latter exhibit was by far the most impressive.<br /><br />Being only early afternoon and with no particular place in mind to go, we decided to take a leisurely drive up the coast. Starting in Torrey Pines and heading north on the 101, this is by far one of my favorite drives to do in San Diego and is rivaled only by a jaunt through the windy roads of Rancho Santa Fe.<br /><br />Upon returning to Carlsbad we picked up my friend Greg for some drinks at Coyote's, a popular local watering hole. Afterwards, not wanting to return home without something to show for it, we made a quick stop by Greg's house to pick pomegranates, avocados and any other fruit that looked ripe enough to eat.<br /><br /><u>Day 4</u><br />We started out the day at the <a href="http://www.premiumoutlets.com/carlsbad">Carlsbad Outlets</a> for a bit of shopping. This was followed by a requisite trip to In-n-Out burger where I fully enjoyed a cheeseburger, chocolate shake and fries. I'm not sure what it is about how they make their burgers, but In-n-Out's burgers are truly some of the best in the world.<br /><br />One of the primary reasons we went to San Diego was for my ten-year high school reunion. Hosted downtown at the <a href="http://www.thebristolsandiego.com/">Bristol Hotel</a>, it was only a 30-minute drive from Carlsbad. We arrived soon after it started and within minutes, ran into an old friend of mine named Derek. From there it was a whirlwind of mini-reunions as I met up with people I hadn't seen, nor heard from, in ten years.<br /><br />By the end of the evening, I had reconnected with at least twenty folks that I had fond memories of from high school. In some ways it was rather cliché in that the jocks seemed to have ended up with the bleach blond bimbos and hadn't done much else with their lives. In contrast, my fellow nerds were all fairly successful or well on their way to it.<br /><br />All in all, the evening went very well and though I had hoped to see a few more souls it was a great time nonetheless. It leaves me looking forward to the next ten year reunion.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-16884136143117469552007-08-11T09:33:00.001-05:002008-03-30T19:05:19.213-05:00Democracy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC65DhyphenhyphenicRJLPAJ5778fNGNPQ8gTSPCu6UcCITuQLET5c17XS-t7AGkAy2vEEOuuJbjN_eF2mL7vh0uidH4czUyvO9SA9BWNcuOxJ1JV6udaAQlkRbZbRBhDEeGSRyoiE6iEDQ/s1600-h/democracy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC65DhyphenhyphenicRJLPAJ5778fNGNPQ8gTSPCu6UcCITuQLET5c17XS-t7AGkAy2vEEOuuJbjN_eF2mL7vh0uidH4czUyvO9SA9BWNcuOxJ1JV6udaAQlkRbZbRBhDEeGSRyoiE6iEDQ/s400/democracy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5097475186826228146" border="0" /></a>Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_%28play%29"><span style="font-style: italic;">Democracy</span></a> spans the years from 1969 to 1974 and tells the tale of two Germanies, East and West, locked together in idealogical battle for the soul of their country. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Brandt">Willy Brandt</a>, newly elected Chancellor of democratic West Germany in 1969, had proclaimed a bold new plan in dealing with its implacable foe, communist East Germany. Rather than ignore their neighbor, as had been done since the demarcation following WWII, Brandt's government would engage them, a policy which came to be known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostpolitik">Ostpolitik</a>.<br /><br />The East Germans were of course apprehensive of this move but fortunately for them their spy service, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi">Stasi</a>, was among the best in the world. They had managed to place an agent right where they needed it: in Brandt's staff. A spy by the name of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnter_Guillaume">Günter Guillaume</a>, he arrived in West Germany in 1956 with orders to penetrate the political system. He rose through the ranks of the Social Democratic party eventually becoming Brandt's personal assistant.<br /><br />Answering to two masters, Günter began to feel increasingly torn as his relationship with the Chancellor grew. He wanted to satisfy his Stasi bosses yet was inextricably drawn to Brandt's charisma and forthrightness. Through Günter's reports, it became clear to the East German leadership that this was not some ploy but a genuine effort at rapprochement and that truly frightened them.<br /><br />The play does not make clear who was responsible although Stasi involvement was suspected. In either case, the result was the same. West Germany security services were tipped off to a spy in Brandt's office and from there the operation quickly unraveled. Brandt became a pariah in the public's eye and was forced to resign in 1974. Günter was arrested and sentenced to 13 years though he was sent back to the East through a prisoner exchange in 1981.<br /><br />Following the upheaval which came to be known as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Affair">Guillaume Affair</a>, each of the characters in the play laments on their role. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Schmidt">Helmut Schmidt</a>, heretofore Minister of Finances, nervously accepts the Chancellorship. Longtime rival and fellow Social Democrat <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Wehner">Herbert Wehner</a> washes his hands of the whole matter. Guillame is grief-stricken at having betrayed his friend and wishes that he could somehow make it right. Brandt himself recedes into the pages of history though he makes a brief reappearance during <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_reunification">German reunification</a> in 1990 when people look back and wonder if his policy of Ostpolitik is partly to thank for the ostentatious occasion.<br /><br />More than just a play about a visionary leader and the spy within his own ranks, it is also a lesson for those who crave power only to have it unexpectedly pushed onto them. For more than thirty years, the Social Democrats could claim the mantle of defeat but upon winning the majority in 1969, they suddenly had to deal with all the problems of governing. Principles gave way to compromises while character flaws became national scandals.<br /><br />Playing through August 12th at the renowned <a href="http://www.olneytheatre.org/">Olney Theater</a>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Democracy</span> tells the story of human beings, replete with all their imperfections, muddling their way through very dark and dangerous times. The quick interplay and political intrigue between characters will keep you spell-bound for the two hours and forty minutes runtime.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-42522616455289741212007-08-04T01:12:00.000-05:002007-08-04T10:26:44.601-05:00Babylon 5: The Lost Tales<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhollZaoLf99ffgHO2eYd4vVUglt_iHGYKHRyGMUTW8rlNwco5t7pnx_aemcSb0Vtba2A7ij9wSStRwCTNgd0dppRAcV6fOruN2ONkXl8FPKrsgMfnFTKnbwEFneOcfrhdYRDdN/s1600-h/51Z07s52mdL._SS500_.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhollZaoLf99ffgHO2eYd4vVUglt_iHGYKHRyGMUTW8rlNwco5t7pnx_aemcSb0Vtba2A7ij9wSStRwCTNgd0dppRAcV6fOruN2ONkXl8FPKrsgMfnFTKnbwEFneOcfrhdYRDdN/s200/51Z07s52mdL._SS500_.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094867136655208866" border="0" /></a>Returning after a near 10-year hiatus, J. Michael Straczynski once again opens the doors to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5">Babylon 5</a> universe which first made its appearance in 1993 and became a weekly show. Through all the difficulties, such as actors walking off the job and network executives pulling the plug, the show soldiered on and eventually garnered a large and loyal fan base. Yet from the beginning, Straczynski made it clear that the show was not meant to last more than five years and so in 1998, we said a tearful goodbye.<br /><br />Taking place 10 years after the events of the last episode of Babylon 5, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Lost Tales</span> is actually two stories in one. The first concerns a demon-like creature which has taken possession of a crew member. Devoid of action, the story instead relies completely on dialogue and features Commander Lochley and a priest who is called in to exercise the demon. The interplay between the characters was a poignant reminder of a show far ahead of its time, one which used technology where necessary to enhance a story but never forgot what made a good story in the first place.<br /><br />The second episode centers on President Sheridan, leader of the Interstellar Alliance. His leisurely journey to Babylon 5 for the 10-year anniversary celebration of the founding of that alliance is interrupted when Galen, a technomage from his past, gives him an awful choice: either kill a boy who has entrusted his life to Sheridan or watch Earth be destroyed by that boy's future fleet of warships.<br /><br />In addition to the two episodes, there are also interviews with Boxleitner, Scoggins and Straczynski himself. Memorials to deceased actors <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0441537/">Andreas Katsulas</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0081863/">Richard Biggs</a>, who played Citizen G'Kar and Doctor Franklin respectively, are touching and reveal just how well the cast got along with each other.<br /><br />My only complaint would have to be a technical one. During the second episode when Galen is talking to Sheridan in his dream, a boom mike suddenly appears at the top of the screen and stays for about five seconds before disappearing. Seeing the fourth wall so egregiously broken was a bit shocking, especially given Straczynski's penchant for perfection.<br /><br />Overall, I would say that casual fans of the show probably won't get much out of this DVD. But for those who would consider themselves hard core, myself included, it's like stepping into a pool and finding the water warm and inviting. I just hope we get more than a toe-dipping with the next installment.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-75943072854420764512007-07-02T19:39:00.000-05:002007-07-14T16:03:38.143-05:00The Summer of George<blockquote>"This is gonna be my time. Time to taste the fruits and let the juices drip down my chin. I proclaim this: The Summer of George!"<br />-- George Costanza from <span style="font-style: italic;">Seinfeld</span></blockquote>And so it began Friday night with the guys and I celebrating our own "Summer of George". We started out at Whitlow's with games of pool and foosball. Beer was ordered by the pitcher and for the better part of two hours we talked about all the things you'd expect to hear from a bunch of guys after a full week's work. Eventually we moved onto Mr. Day's just a few blocks up the road. Featuring a dance floor and an upper balcony running along the inside, we quickly got our drinks and staked out a claim with a good view of the action below. Being my first time there, I was impressed with the mix of people and made it a point to return.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWkJtAlIZqI6zEe5WrcrfxPvVwx59tjXAksPfVpnEtuXRu6NvGUrs02KZZ69KHcKFXHj_QElEB3KivfvAsSSqIvs2Q6772HeKkmMEmaMQKAjNsqDGZ25iAnImkOFJGsEsP6qMc/s1600-h/SSPX0767.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWkJtAlIZqI6zEe5WrcrfxPvVwx59tjXAksPfVpnEtuXRu6NvGUrs02KZZ69KHcKFXHj_QElEB3KivfvAsSSqIvs2Q6772HeKkmMEmaMQKAjNsqDGZ25iAnImkOFJGsEsP6qMc/s200/SSPX0767.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087160049074391986" border="0" /></a>Saturday was a real blast. To allow for any possible hangovers from the night before, we booked our reservations at Top Golf at 2pm. This is a driving range which features golf balls with RFID tags that can be tracked thus allowing for head-to-head competition depending on distance, accuracy or both. My first game was horrid but by the second and third rounds I was consistently hitting it about 100 yards.<br /><br />Wanting to relax after several hours at the driving range, we headed over to the Bonefish Grill for some good food and wine. Around 7 o'clock we found our way over to the theater to watch <a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0337978/">Live Free or Die Hard</a>. It was a great movie with lots of hard-hitting action though I was disappointed that it was set in D.C. yet very little of it was actually shot there. It took a keen eye but I actually recognized several L.A. landmarks.<br /><br />Despite being pretty tired at this point, I was convinced to go to <a href="http://www.greatamericanrestaurants.com/mainpage/sweetwater-chooser.htm">Sweetwater Tavern</a>. Beer and light appetizers proved to be good for wrapping up the day. After two days of hanging out with these guys, I knew that the Summer of George had gotten off to a good start.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-11204492159934474022007-06-29T16:03:00.000-05:002007-06-29T16:31:36.949-05:00Trip to Boston<span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 1</span><br />Our flight took off from Reagan at about 10:30 am and aside from some minor turbulence the flight was fairy smooth. Upon arrival at Boston's Logan International Airport, we immediately set about finding a shuttle that would take us to the nearest T station, which is how the subway here is referred to. As it turned out, the blue line would be our savior by delivering us to the green line via Government Center whereupon we would take that line for one stop before transferring to the red line at Park and heading out to Kendall/MIT where our hotel was located.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLPvbOzQRCjh3TrZfWYWctaU2c6pzzHhKwjVgt7ES7zBGX9OmWj0wFzlgfYb2LJxYTIMWFo0mcGzbuMw1phT8uTijkzSDXNy5IuwQyIgi-mYnHrQjdOFyaJmAepk4hElNaN1H/s1600-h/HPIM1706.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLPvbOzQRCjh3TrZfWYWctaU2c6pzzHhKwjVgt7ES7zBGX9OmWj0wFzlgfYb2LJxYTIMWFo0mcGzbuMw1phT8uTijkzSDXNy5IuwQyIgi-mYnHrQjdOFyaJmAepk4hElNaN1H/s200/HPIM1706.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081595687825526498" border="0" /></a>Looking at a map of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MBTA">the T</a>, I was struck by how similar it was to Washington D.C.'s own hub-and-spoke Metro system. That's about where the similarities end though. Built just before New York started laying their own subway tracks, it's the oldest underground mass transit system in the country. Like the Big Apple's use of uptown or downtown to refer to train direction, all cars on the T are either 'inbound' or 'outbound'. Also like the New York subway, the stations that serve as transfer points are fairly complex to navigate thus demonstrating their iterative construction over the eleven plus decades the system has been in service. As well, some of the lines, such as the green line, share a fair portion of their tracks with street traffic meaning that both light rail (street cars) and heavy rail (subway) trains share the tracks making for a hodge podge of train types that can show up at any given platform.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsgOK4cLV8M1utHGJXNoO0i2LIJB90oToOWv1yH8B8c5J2k2ngfU1uFnDnYR-DovuKYWO8YF2U0lphrl2mJceJY-_-7irPhp7wjwIhM6BY_xdg7uCNKVzBNkoKKCze2QPBTWFs/s1600-h/HPIM1640.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsgOK4cLV8M1utHGJXNoO0i2LIJB90oToOWv1yH8B8c5J2k2ngfU1uFnDnYR-DovuKYWO8YF2U0lphrl2mJceJY-_-7irPhp7wjwIhM6BY_xdg7uCNKVzBNkoKKCze2QPBTWFs/s200/HPIM1640.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081596972020748018" border="0" /></a>Our first stop in Boston was the <a href="http://www.samueladams.com/">Samuel Adams</a> brewery. Located just off the Stony Brook stop on the orange line, it is not, contrary to popular belief, run by descendants of the revolutionary himself. In fact, it was started in 1985 by a member of the Koch (pronounced 'cook') family which had made a name for itself in brewing during the 19th century. The tour itself was fairly informal and included a brief history of the brewery, a highlight of the four main ingredients of Samuel Adams beer (hops, barley, water and yeast) and finally a sampling of three different types of this native brew. Our tour was lucky enough to get a taste of their Boston Lager, Summer Ale and Märzen, the latter being unique to this brewery and not available to the general public.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 2</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ_rDVnaxUnsdji6VhC_FXt-z-o7R3wtYBd63eYH9FdFIV0K8TKEgBb-__YaohyphenhyphentQ0MZIMPAjm-pkR37F3q0LkQ5GoIX9a4eaLBQxIOtZatKWflijXFS70YcTxHPK6UM7qWpCh/s1600-h/HPIM1653.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ_rDVnaxUnsdji6VhC_FXt-z-o7R3wtYBd63eYH9FdFIV0K8TKEgBb-__YaohyphenhyphentQ0MZIMPAjm-pkR37F3q0LkQ5GoIX9a4eaLBQxIOtZatKWflijXFS70YcTxHPK6UM7qWpCh/s200/HPIM1653.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081597886848782082" border="0" /></a>The morning started off at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Common">Boston Common</a>, a public park of 44 acres set aside by the original Puritan founders. Our tour started from this central location and followed what's called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Trail">Freedom Trail</a>, a path laid out nearly 50 years ago that traces Boston's historic moments. The tour guide himself was an older fellow dressed in the style of the late 1700s, tricorne hat and all, and emulating a minor player from the period who was friends with the biggest names of the revolution. Flair and knowledge combined to produce a tour that was both entertaining and enlightening. Though the guided portion ended at Fanuiel hall, we decided to continue on across the Charles river, stopping by the Bunker Hill monument and finally ending at the USS Constitution.<br /><br />Walking the full length of the Freedom Trail didn't leave any time for a mid-afternon nap so immediately upon arriving back at our hotel in Kendall, we had to get ready to meet up with family that lived in the area. We rendezvoused at a place in Beacon Hill called Fig's which is known for its gourmet pizza. My choice was the spicy chicken sausage while the other types sampled included one smothered in portobello mushrooms, one crested with arugula and another known as the Red Sox which had its own spicy sausage topping. We did our best to work off the enormous meal by walking back to Cambridge via the Longfellow bridge over the Charles river instead of taking the T.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 3</span><br />The day started out bright and relatively early at the nearest Starbucks with a cranberry-orange muffin and a soy mocha. From there, it was a quick jaunt down to 3rd St. and over to Charles St. to get to the Museum of Science. We'd been warned that it was juvenile and outdated but I was interested in the Jane Goodall exhibit that highlighted the famous anthropologist's work with chimpanzees. Admission was relatively cheap at $16 and while much of the displays were indeed juvenile and outdated, there were also some real gems. The chimpanzee exhibit was interesting but I felt it was far outshined by the electrical exhibit. Every two hours, a show took place that used the world's largest Van de Graaff generator. Harmless and beautiful static discharges, lethal yet fantastic lightning bolts and even the eerie St. Elmo's fire were put on display with each being eloquently explained.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBVdBETW4YK7jIhkxidtgu126OhvD3Qoxvih_Hmy6-MMAsOrR-hQpgVu2Sy4XXv530arodFu4ui-0bLBf4kYJpR49uDdMy8cuR6K-ehlI87L3LVfcXleIIvJCTD_eTkuhaHOXt/s1600-h/SSPX0736.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBVdBETW4YK7jIhkxidtgu126OhvD3Qoxvih_Hmy6-MMAsOrR-hQpgVu2Sy4XXv530arodFu4ui-0bLBf4kYJpR49uDdMy8cuR6K-ehlI87L3LVfcXleIIvJCTD_eTkuhaHOXt/s200/SSPX0736.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081598492439170834" border="0" /></a>Our next stop was the <a href="http://boston.langhamhotels.com/">Langham hotel</a> which was hosting the Chocolate Bar. A local favorite among Bostonians, it features a buffet of nothing but chocolate. Some of the highlights were chocolate banana paninis, chocolate crepes, and chocolate fondue. Consisting of enough chocolate desserts to make a French pastry chef blush, it was a true chocolate lovers paradise. Three dishes in, I was feeling slightly woozy and had to resort to eating fruit, sans fondue, if I was going to avoid getting sick.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRTmUfNl6TPgaygWwAQ2N42bOhgu-rMTItWO0FeuMoAlHqgkhTxoFQze0G7N8wG4mwna7Lmr3TLoVpnCR7uppCMMubRCbYYIWMen9RHe9R5nKrl4CZu4J43UVcFq-WNjiOTZ5D/s1600-h/SSPX0739.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRTmUfNl6TPgaygWwAQ2N42bOhgu-rMTItWO0FeuMoAlHqgkhTxoFQze0G7N8wG4mwna7Lmr3TLoVpnCR7uppCMMubRCbYYIWMen9RHe9R5nKrl4CZu4J43UVcFq-WNjiOTZ5D/s200/SSPX0739.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081599020720148258" border="0" /></a>Early evening saw us wandering the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard">Harvard</a> campus taking in its beautiful environs. Despite being summer, it felt like a regular school day with college-aged kids packing the the streets and impromptu sidewalk concerts filling the air with music. Eventually we made our way over to a small restaurant called Casablanca. Located below street level, it was festooned with scenes from the famous movie and featured unique Mediterranean inspired dishes on its menu. While I had the venison rare with risotto, she ordered the soft shell crab on a corn and arugula base. We washed it down with an excellent 2005 bottle of zinfandel. After dinner we meandered through Harvard Square slowly making our way back to the T station.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 4</span><br />Being our last day, we decided to take things a bit easier. After having checked out of our hotel at a leisurely 10 am, we took the T to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Aquarium">New England Aquarium</a>. The main enclosure was approximately four stories tall and consisted of a round central tank which was hugged by a spiral ramp that gave patrons an unfettered view of the countless fish that inhabited it. The main enclosure itself had a square ramp running inside of it and at each level, there were a series of tanks housed that highlighted a particular aquatic habitat. Contrasting it with the world-famous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_Aquarium">Baltimore Aquarium</a>, it was quite a bit smaller but their penguin exhibit was worth the visit alone.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyNDMqj7oz3mPyJW1VETwkvE4bwBB-w2qsjfCuEU-0tYi-w4Tq0HjdnGL0x4vjXqGgMzjxrVfCQ9QXzrLAHaRyuWakeP60nnXekbqiK03gUJdL0rkth32qSxUru72OkXIRKhaA/s1600-h/SSPX0763.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyNDMqj7oz3mPyJW1VETwkvE4bwBB-w2qsjfCuEU-0tYi-w4Tq0HjdnGL0x4vjXqGgMzjxrVfCQ9QXzrLAHaRyuWakeP60nnXekbqiK03gUJdL0rkth32qSxUru72OkXIRKhaA/s200/SSPX0763.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081599737979686722" border="0" /></a>Being so close to Boston's historic downtown, we retraced some of our foot steps from the other day and made our way to the Green Dragon which had come highly recommended by my buddy <a href="http://minusthesilencer.blogspot.com/2006/10/capping-off-great-week.html">Georgios</a>, a native of the area. Established by a man named John Cary in 1657, its name was well-known as a local watering hole by the time the Sons of Liberty started using it for their secret meetings in the days leading up to the revolution. After a light meal of mussels and beer, we started back for the hotel so we could pick up our suitcases and head out to the airport.<br /><br />My overall feeling about Boston is that it is a great town that would be a fun place to live. But because of the harsh winter it is unlikely you will ever find me living there. As well, the disorganized street layout can make navigation difficult as opposed to Manhattan where everything is laid out in a grid fashion. Yet it should be noted that the majority of Boston's activities are centralized making them easy to get to and completely negating the need for a cab. And the T, while older and somewhat more confusing than D.C.'s Metro, really does take you anywhere you need to go. So for those of you looking to spend some time in a classic American city without the hassle of renting a car, I would highly recommend Boston.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-87466360516048887072007-06-03T13:39:00.000-05:002007-06-15T14:44:57.908-05:00Prone to violenceOn a recent survey of my movie collection, it came to my attention that over 90% of my movies involve violence as a main theme. From <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399146/">A History of Violence</a> to <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093058/">Full Metal Jacket</a>, the sheer unabashed aggression on display in these movies is stark and unavoidable. But does a collection that encompasses three decades worth of some of the most violent movies indicate a violence personality?<br /><br />Now I don't consider myself a very violent person. Save for the occasional brawl in elementary school, my youth was untarnished by physical encounters. Road rage led me on occasion to vent my anger at my fellow drivers through pointless screaming in the comfort of my own car but it never went beyond that. City life has taken some getting used to what with the constant crowds but again, it's never gotten to the point where I've actually attempted to knock another guy's block off.<br /><br />Some would take this opportunity to suggest that watching violent movies might be alleviating that pent up aggression, thus saving me from a stint in jail or worse. But history shows us that engaging in violence often leads to more of the same. Witness the Roman gladiatorial contests which started small yet by the third century was consuming more than a third of the year in the form of state-sponsored holidays to view these bloody spectacles.<br /><br />Yet a violent movie collection does not a violent person make. Hype in the media about violence in movies causing increased rates of murder and mayhem are just that, hype. The roots of violence are numerous and range from well understood causes like child abuse to lesser known factors such as brain damage. Movies however are not one of them.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-40026322385692369112007-05-17T16:48:00.000-05:002007-05-18T14:30:40.721-05:00So long 27<blockquote>"My name is Patrick Bateman. I'm 27 years old. I believe in taking care of myself, and a balanced diet and a rigorous exercise routine."</blockquote>The opening lines to American Psycho have always struck a chord with me, more so after moving to DC. My age, lifestyle and habits, albeit with some stark differences such as not having a psychotic break with reality, echoed those of the main character in this cinematic masterpiece. An obsession with self-image like having the best job, best clothes and best hair is something many urban males deal with, myself being no such exception.<br /><br />Yesterday marked my 28th birthday and while I don't feel any older, the inexorable march towards 30 is there in the back of mind, starkly contrasted as if it was written in bold black letters on a white background. There's nothing I can do to stop this progression so I might as well do my best to enjoy it.<br /><br />Going with this philosophy, I started out my morning with an egg, bacon and cheese breakfast sandwich along with a soy mocha at Starbucks. Normally the cholesterol and sugar is enough to scare me away from such a meal but not today. Lunch was light in anticipation of dinner which, at that point, was still a mystery to me. But my girlfriend did not disappoint as she treated me to an incredible meal of Lamb Roganjosh at <a href="http://www.rasikarestaurant.com/">Rasika</a>, a restaurant located in the Penn Quarter that serves haute Indian cuisine.<br /><br />Gifts this year were all very useful and ranged from silicon-coated whisks to a subscription to <a href="http://www.economist.com/">The Economist</a>. As well, my wish for the expansion pack to World of Warcraft, <a href="http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/">The Burning Crusade</a>, was granted. But gifts were not the only thing on my mind. I often found my mind wandering back to this time last year when I was contacted by a recruiter from <a href="http://www.revolutionhealth.com">Revolution Health</a> who was interested in my <a href="http://minusthesilencer.blogspot.com/search/label/ruby%20on%20rails">Ruby on Rails</a> skills.<br /><br />Though I have no regrets about my decision to move up here I can't help but think about the people I have lost touch with, the friends that made Melbourne that much more bearable. My memories of that small Florida town will fade over time yet the events of May 2006 left an indelible imprint that will always be with me. In the year since that fateful decision I have come to better understand the sacrifices and gains made.<br /><br />Yet I am buoyed by the fact that I've made new friends here while also reconnecting with old ones that have likewise braved the trek from Melbourne to DC. As well, despite the difficulty of adjusting to the environs of a big city, I can't recall a happier time in my life. I feel as if I've finally arrived.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-46220576258490028612007-04-23T15:46:00.000-05:002007-05-26T15:24:57.689-05:00Making the switch to MoonkinWhen I used to play Warcraft 3 a few years ago, my favorite character class to use against the enemy was the Druid. Their ability to shift into different forms gave them what I felt was a tremendous advantage. So naturally when I picked up World of Warcraft a few months ago, my first character was a Night Elf Druid. Fortunately they'd gained the ability to shift into other forms besides Bear.<br /><br />Going on the advice of a friend and veteran of the game I decided to spec Feral. This turned out to be a pretty good choice given the peculiar difficulties that a Druid presents and since this was my first character. As I learned more about the game play, I became better at using my Cat form in conjunction with Bear form to shred and tank against mobs. Yet save for the occasional role as a healer in instance runs, I felt my spell casting abilities were being severely under utilized.<br /><br />By the time I reached level 45, I'd invested nearly 10 points in the Balance tree. This worked well in that I could use my <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/DoT">DoTs</a> to wear down an enemy to half their HP before they even got close whereupon I could easily finish them off in Cat form. Unfortunately, this also drained my mana pool very quickly. After reading up on the latest patch changes and how it vastly improved the Balance tree, I decided to re-spec and see if that matched by playing style any better.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI3E1j0ZNsrwbfGZgVK472sQaZOCFAyQZy5M96TZSxZbm0DrWT_St-sq5eioBsjNb4jaioKr6gP4Nzii7vw2J7hQQ2PuHejZNzP9q2GVlDRgZ65b2jgFm5Mbmt5RVAZFEkZd4q/s1600-h/moonkin1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI3E1j0ZNsrwbfGZgVK472sQaZOCFAyQZy5M96TZSxZbm0DrWT_St-sq5eioBsjNb4jaioKr6gP4Nzii7vw2J7hQQ2PuHejZNzP9q2GVlDRgZ65b2jgFm5Mbmt5RVAZFEkZd4q/s200/moonkin1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5056768789400539394" border="0" /></a>Within an hour of going Balance and gaining Moonkin form, I did an incredible instance run of Zul'Farrak with my guild buddies as a high <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/DPS">DPSer</a>. Though Cat and Bear form had both decreased significantly with regards to damage output, in a sticky situation I could still switch to the latter and perform <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Frenzied_Regeneration">Frenzied Regeneration</a>. Gradually, I changed out all my gear as well and went for those items with high intellect. I also switched to using a two-handed mace as my main weapon which upped my attack power and thus my mana regeneration.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX0vs_O1loYlAAOPeTCCCMRYoo4EjiXGjSGRKBsbGgol8Vrs-R_dd1y67C_aDgx2mDH1OlnwFOlr3lZVM7ETP8kVVP8h2LIYo52I0a3FDsJxi94LwqzuiqFXg5t5K3LexqdAG9/s1600-h/moonkin2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX0vs_O1loYlAAOPeTCCCMRYoo4EjiXGjSGRKBsbGgol8Vrs-R_dd1y67C_aDgx2mDH1OlnwFOlr3lZVM7ETP8kVVP8h2LIYo52I0a3FDsJxi94LwqzuiqFXg5t5K3LexqdAG9/s200/moonkin2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5056769025623740690" border="0" /></a>At this point, <a href="http://armory.worldofwarcraft.com/#character-sheet.xml?r=Shu%27halo&n=Vasily">I am</a> a level 52 Balance Druid who spends about 95% of his time in Moonkin form. I haven't regretted the re-spec at all and in fact, I have only come to enjoy it more. Recently I attained <a href="http://www.wowwiki.com/Force_of_Nature">Force of Nature</a> thus giving me three treants to fight on my behalf and allowing me to easily take on enemies three or four levels higher. In PvP, I now have Warlocks of equal level complaining that <span style="font-weight: bold;">I'm</span> overpowered.<br /><br />In short, the Balance tree has long been overlooked for Druids in favor of the easier-to-solo Feral build. But with the right equipment, good mana management and a desire to play more like a mage than a warrior, the Moonkin Druid can quickly rise to the top and become an invaluable member of raids and instance runs.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-17366217023526456132007-04-20T13:56:00.000-05:002007-04-23T13:44:03.257-05:00Revolution Health launches!Three months after the initial beta release, <a href="http://revolutionhealth.com">Revolution Health</a> launched yesterday to much fanfare and celebration. Yours truly is privileged enough along with 280 or so other employees to be a part of this incredible startup. To celebrate, the company rented out the Beacon Hotel just down the street and provided an open bar and appetizers. For some, it seemed like it was the first of the outside world they'd seen in several weeks after having worked furiously to get the site ready for launch.<br /><br />Though I wasn't locked away I was working some pretty heavy hours to make sure that our group's section of the site was working seamlessly. It feels a bit strange to finally be on the other side of it all, as if we've stepped through some sort of door. One thing's for sure, there is no going back. From here on out, the health industry is going to wake up and listen and not just to us, but to consumers as well.<br /><br />Our <a href="http://webmd.com">competition</a> seems to be taking the hint. From imitating our look and feel (it's the sincerest form of flattery, right?) to adding a 'community' section, they are doing their best to keep up. Coincidentally enough, on the day of our launch they <a href="http://valleywag.com/tech/webmd/cto-walks-the-gangplank-253651.php">fired</a> their CTO. Some people have theorized as to whether this was a <a href="http://www.thewebpreneur.com/2007/04/20/revolutionhealth-launches-webmd-cto-gets-fired/">signal to us</a> but there's no way to be sure.<br /><br />What is certain though is that we only needed to do something disruptive in either <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/01/03/aol-founders-next-startup-revolution-health/">health care</a> or <a href="http://weblog.rubyonrails.com/2007/2/15/rails-application-featured-on-good-morning-america">technology</a> to be revolutionary but we have instead chosen to take on both fronts. A brand-new approach to health care combined with the amazing Ruby on Rails framework means that we will be that much harder to beat. Let the race begin.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-90260405873232262252007-04-16T13:22:00.000-05:002007-04-16T13:52:52.779-05:00Back from hiatusYes, so I know it's been a long time since I've posted here and all I can say is that I have some very good reasons for my hiatus. The big one would have to be work. In preparation for our launch this Thursday, our full site release mind you, I've been working 12 hour days. Trying to maintain even the shadow of a social life in light of these long hours has been difficult to say the least.<br /><br />In addition, I have also been spending time building my character in World of Warcraft. I'll probably dedicate a full post to that sometime later this week. Needless to say, while some will point to this as evidence of WoW's addictive powers, I can assure you that a few hours spent gaming online every now and then does not make one an addict.<br /><br />Thanks to work pressures I feel like my Ruby/Rails knowledge has increased exponentially in the past few months. From plugins to ActiveRecord, the need for efficient easily-maintainable code has forced me to dive into Rails' inner workings. It's been tough but I feel that I have a much better idea now of what's going on behind the scenes.<br /><br />So in effect, work is the culprit. I can only hope that in the future I will be able to drag myself away from it to blog on at least a weekly basis.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-17538336606318458162007-02-21T14:10:00.000-05:002007-02-21T14:31:14.456-05:00First trip to New York<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1hlVA3RKWXMGyCYLK9jwB2dAAz_Rw2BUxWTvpjJu7CrMVC8h9if0mIFO-2PAzLAc-KUdQ9sOiVk5fdFXC_uEfWUuCPhOAgd7Dy5Ongo5ttuu48pOdYUIzpQn2gPLdT3Fxh1Ic/s1600-h/HPIM1134.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1hlVA3RKWXMGyCYLK9jwB2dAAz_Rw2BUxWTvpjJu7CrMVC8h9if0mIFO-2PAzLAc-KUdQ9sOiVk5fdFXC_uEfWUuCPhOAgd7Dy5Ongo5ttuu48pOdYUIzpQn2gPLdT3Fxh1Ic/s200/HPIM1134.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034067558365944258" border="0" /></a>Friday morning began early at 6am with a short Metro ride to Reagan National airport where we awaited our direct flight to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguardia_airport">LaGaurdia</a>. Unfortunately icy weather kept our plane grounded longer than expected and what was supposed to be a brief journey lasted quite a bit longer, thus delaying our arrival in Manhattan until early that afternoon. Once we dropped our bags off at the hotel though we were off. As it turns out, we were located less than a block away from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un">U.N.</a> which was a source of unmitigated joy for me. Those of you who know my penchant for politics should understand my reaction.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6aNi00ZFWv_hSXwn9VZJ7Wue9NgJg-az6YozQWUvy6t9lobI-RhfJj2IoQyDDdQgTJx6R0WMErN2rQHWTfXg_FbptsxsOrT7cQXl1yZcgRQcgs26MGWhrYfnsHnlsC_UYxdbh/s1600-h/HPIM1136.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6aNi00ZFWv_hSXwn9VZJ7Wue9NgJg-az6YozQWUvy6t9lobI-RhfJj2IoQyDDdQgTJx6R0WMErN2rQHWTfXg_FbptsxsOrT7cQXl1yZcgRQcgs26MGWhrYfnsHnlsC_UYxdbh/s200/HPIM1136.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034067695804897746" border="0" /></a>The late arrival of our flight meant that both of us were absolutely famished. Fortunately her friends Becky and Elliott were there to take us to lunch, a small BBQ place called Duke's. Afterwards, Becky gave us an afternoon tour of Midtown including such highlights as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Central_Terminal">Grand Central</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_square">Times Square</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Public_Library">New York Public Library</a>. The early morning wake-up combined with all the afternoon's activities required a return to the hotel followed by a brief nap. We then met up with them again that evening in the Upper East side at a place named, coincidentally enough, Becky's Pub.<br /><br />Saturday began in earnest for us with a trip to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Museum_of_Natural_History">American Museum of Natural History</a>. We'd used the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Subway">Subway</a> briefly the night before, thus giving us a heightened confidence in its use. This morning's ride would prove a much different beast. To start off, the orange 'V' line we had planned on taking was out of service as was the blue 'C' line, our backup plan. The downtown blue 'A' line was the only option left to us, but when we attempted to transfer at the 50th St. station we found ourselves in a bit of a pickle. Apparently, and this is something known only to New Yorkers and adventurous tourists like us, some stations require you to actually leave the station and walk a few blocks to get to the uptown line. This is something we discovered only after a lengthy and frustrating walk around the rather sizable station.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk-ubfVLWIeL9tBRExSQwCcCE57qDvqDedwJdDeZ2xUhY-k86ov0MSo7EKSI5qW-pANHNvPY7i6GyAIbVmU_20JUNbu3_CiWDZebCVh9MD8sRCsgPEzKg-H_T3TD22yjlDgqf4/s1600-h/HPIM1169.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk-ubfVLWIeL9tBRExSQwCcCE57qDvqDedwJdDeZ2xUhY-k86ov0MSo7EKSI5qW-pANHNvPY7i6GyAIbVmU_20JUNbu3_CiWDZebCVh9MD8sRCsgPEzKg-H_T3TD22yjlDgqf4/s200/HPIM1169.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034067880488491490" border="0" /></a>The museum was fun albeit very crowded. We actually spent the majority of our time there in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayden_Planetarium">Hayden Planetarium</a>. After leaving the museum we headed for Central Park looking forward to a leisurely afternoon stroll. Lazily we made our way towards the Midtown entrance on the East side stopping to snap photos of particularly picturesque settings. Eventually we came out near the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park_Zoo">Central Park Zoo</a> whereupon we quickly headed towards the hotel to prepare for that evening's activities. Nighttime saw us at a nearby French restaurant called "Deux Amis" followed by a showing of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_of_the_opera"><span style="font-style: italic;">Phantom of the Opera</span> </a>at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_Theater">Majestic theater</a>. It was an incredible show, one that I've always wanted to see. We followed up with dessert at <a href="http://www.juniorscheesecake.com/">Junior's</a>, a local restaurant known for their amazing cheesecakes.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFft1eeGOcHQpL8wmEWRGGbM2bx8eYBGw0XpykPmnEXVBkamrQLaZ8Bs9qmNli6jO2UORxu6W-uDm_d9BN62qJHo8mBJVENLeRDOtI-YJQLLeEU7asczZElVkjnhr2NVWNz2Zh/s1600-h/HPIM1176.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFft1eeGOcHQpL8wmEWRGGbM2bx8eYBGw0XpykPmnEXVBkamrQLaZ8Bs9qmNli6jO2UORxu6W-uDm_d9BN62qJHo8mBJVENLeRDOtI-YJQLLeEU7asczZElVkjnhr2NVWNz2Zh/s200/HPIM1176.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034068146776463858" border="0" /></a>Feeling a bit stung by the previous day's issues with the Subway, I approached our trip to Lower Manhattan Sunday with a bit of trepidation. As it turns out, I had nothing to fear. The No. 6 Green line was operating just fine and took us to Canal St. without any issues. Upon exiting the station, we stepped into what was truly a foreign world. Everywhere we looked signs covered in Chinese characters and decorations for the Chinese New Year dominated the view. We wandered through what seemed like endless blocks of this vastly larger <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown,_Manhattan">Chinatown</a> in comparison to our own D.C. version. Lunch was had at a small seafood restaurant while just outside revelers celebrated with drums and poppers.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE_zWSJaSAu6XlcBHcYLSBjj6t99_B2uHNvxdg8YmyZpD_xflqO25H_VBbMK8i_NhzS0_wkpTSanR5OWlSjkMP36S96y7K14_Kkv0KT3KibzVztChwZbOuwvFbcZNoATO0MHLB/s1600-h/HPIM1188.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE_zWSJaSAu6XlcBHcYLSBjj6t99_B2uHNvxdg8YmyZpD_xflqO25H_VBbMK8i_NhzS0_wkpTSanR5OWlSjkMP36S96y7K14_Kkv0KT3KibzVztChwZbOuwvFbcZNoATO0MHLB/s200/HPIM1188.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034068305690253826" border="0" /></a>Ground Zero was our next stop. We approached from Broadway so the first thing we saw was the large memorial photo display at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Authority_Trans-Hudson">PATH</a> station. To see those photos with the very hallowed ground behind them was truly moving. As we made our way around the perimeter of the site we stopped at various places such as the Ladder 10 and Engine 10 <a href="http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_24/wtc.html">firehouse</a> which lost five firefighters on 9/11. After making a complete circuit we hopped onto the blue 'E' line running back uptown to our hotel.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDri14pyPZYFmmPfEOQrQUYVMYxg-e_qQ01SpjLE6CC9GHUx4U25omfPHNgoFnYdhtyIttXfFA2oGVFOTTq21GPY9EA7ewMJ4bPeekUF1OedH4bhBAzNzM5D-fxWFS_MSz390r/s1600-h/HPIM1216.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDri14pyPZYFmmPfEOQrQUYVMYxg-e_qQ01SpjLE6CC9GHUx4U25omfPHNgoFnYdhtyIttXfFA2oGVFOTTq21GPY9EA7ewMJ4bPeekUF1OedH4bhBAzNzM5D-fxWFS_MSz390r/s200/HPIM1216.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034068503258749458" border="0" /></a>Monday was President's Day as well as our last day in New York city. We had hoped to tour the U.N. but it was closed on this seemingly average American holiday. Therefore we decided to go to the Museum of Modern Art (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Modern_Art">MoMA</a>). It was bitterly cold, much more so than it had been on any previous day of our trip. What were muddy slush puddles the previous day had frozen overnight to become well-camouflaged sheets of ice making walking all that much more precipitous. But the trip was well worth it as we were treated to such incredible pieces like Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Cans", Dali's "Persistence of Memory" and Van Gogh's "Starry Night".<br /><br />That afternoon we had a wonderfully long lunch at a Greek restaurant called Meltemi located at 51st and 1st. I then hailed my last NYC taxi and we headed to LaGuardia airport. As I look back on our trip, it is the hectic pace of the city that stands out in my mind. This fast lifestyle that gives New York its motto as the "City that never sleeps" is what makes it so exciting and will keep people like myself coming back.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-86586666261083791962007-02-06T13:15:00.000-05:002007-02-06T14:02:05.288-05:00So long Battlefield 2. Hello World of Warcraft!In December of 2005, on advice from my buddy Brandon, I picked up a copy of <a href="http://www.ea.com/official/battlefield/battlefield2/us/home.jsp">Battlefield 2</a> and immediately immersed myself into a whole new world of gaming. Whereas my previous vice, <a href="http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=240">Counter Strike: Source</a>, was essentially a repetitive bloodbath this new game required strategy, cunning and teamwork. For about a year, this game kept me entertained what with learning new vehicles and <a href="http://bf2s.com/player/61099362/">gaining rank</a>. From infantry soldier to general to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chengdu_J-10">J-10</a> pilot, I mastered nearly every aspect of the game and had a lot of fun while doing it.<br /><br />Yet the entire time there were certain things that bothered me. While the online service was free to use, this also meant that anybody could run their own server. Once the official EA servers went offline, only these user provided ones were available and each had their own unique set of <a href="http://www.laidbackcrew.com/forums/t183-faq-battlefield-2-server-rules.html">rules</a> they expected users to follow. Oftentimes these rules were lazily enforced and instead used as justification to boot users that the admin simply did not like.<br /><br />As well, the most important part of the game, teamwork, was one that the game's architecture did not easily facilitate. Users were encouraged to 'squad up' at the start of a round yet they rarely did. So getting on a good team depended more on finding one in the various Internet forums or bringing a group of your real-life friends with you into the game. The latter worked well for me until our group disbanded after which I can count on one hand the number of times I found a good squad to game with.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuqvImB_oIIBg-iDvOH3O0-wBfMXVxNtbO21Mqufg1ZS2rklbVH_E24oaUy-gNMWnXasw2l1qJAXJXZSpX3EaSCyaG21ApLi0SpYsv8eF-vPfC5JPwyinZfGhM4QfRFiMgC3dm/s1600-h/wow_vasily.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuqvImB_oIIBg-iDvOH3O0-wBfMXVxNtbO21Mqufg1ZS2rklbVH_E24oaUy-gNMWnXasw2l1qJAXJXZSpX3EaSCyaG21ApLi0SpYsv8eF-vPfC5JPwyinZfGhM4QfRFiMgC3dm/s200/wow_vasily.jpg" alt="My character Vasily" title="My character Vasily" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5028495468452194434" border="0" /></a>Contrast this with World of Warcraft, a game which has been out for longer than Battlefield 2 and which I have been avoiding because I've seen just how addicted my friends are. Yet after playing for several weeks, I can see why they are still playing this game over 2 years after it came out. The online service, while somewhat costly at $15/month, is operated solely by Blizzard and thus ensures that no arcane rules by a petty admin will get you booted off of a server.<br /><br />As for the social aspect of the game, it is light years ahead of Battlefield 2. Support for parties (five people), raids (40 people) and guilds (unlimited) are built right into the game architecture along with easy ways to access them. Early on, the quests that you receive encourage group participation. Since starting play just a few weeks ago, I have lost count of how many times I've relied on complete strangers in my party to help me through a difficult quest. Many of them have ended up on my friends' list which notifies me when they are online. Thus an environment of camaraderie is built around teamwork and it is this feature that will keep users playing WoW for many years to come.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-18420420486615206172007-01-28T12:51:00.000-05:002007-01-30T09:28:26.033-05:00January comes and goesSo the first month of the new year has been pretty crazy as you can guess by the lack of posts. It started off well enough with a party at my buddy Mike's place. He lives just upstairs from me and also works at the same company. It was a James Bond-themed party with all the guys done up like gentlemen and the women dressed to kill. Needless to say, we had an awesome time and I'm looking forward to the next event he hosts.<br /><br />Work came at me without warning. I thought that with our product having launched in late December, this month might be a bit slower but that turned out to be a fantasy on my part. Unwittingly, I took on the responsibility of creating a browser-based rich text editor for use in many of our products. The one we had just didn't cut it due to cross-browser compatibility issues and customizing it for our needs. I can't say too much more about it now but if possible I would love to see us give back to the open source community by releasing this as a project on Ruby Forge.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvbh8prNTk5ovoxuizz1pTxPDysuUVwyaEwj0k5WgDWioE4OmNISgQEd0muzEhBWzEjR0oopU2aPjnGiZQ3Za7RHKrn9s9YLSOTN8Kyz0WCR-stNGX9Mb8b8n7UNTaxzvK_bJS/s1600-h/SSPX0701.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvbh8prNTk5ovoxuizz1pTxPDysuUVwyaEwj0k5WgDWioE4OmNISgQEd0muzEhBWzEjR0oopU2aPjnGiZQ3Za7RHKrn9s9YLSOTN8Kyz0WCR-stNGX9Mb8b8n7UNTaxzvK_bJS/s200/SSPX0701.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5025252878628172178" border="0" /></a>But my life hasn't been all work. Play this week came in the form of a Washington Wizards game on Tuesday. My buddy Mario invited me and seeing as I had never been to a basketball game before, much less one in our nation's capital, I eagerly accepted. Mario's friend was the actual ticket holder and we had the benefit of sitting in the Lockheed Martin box right on the half court line. They were some spectacular seats and despite the loss to the Phoenix Suns that night, I nonetheless had a great time.<br /><br />The end of January is nearly here and will mark the one-year anniversary when I came up to <a href="http://seansoper.com/spgm/spgmGal/The_Beltway_Boys">visit</a> my (other) buddy Mike. My stay, brief as it was, left an indelible impression on me, one that would factor into my decision to move up here when a recruiter from Revolution Health came calling only three months later. In the time since, I have truly come to call this place home, more so than any other area I've lived in outside of Southern California. I'm looking forward to a spectacular 2007.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-39879531447814747992007-01-04T20:29:00.000-05:002007-01-04T22:09:30.512-05:00Installing Sirius into a Hyundai Santa FeThis install was performed on a 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe. While my two <a href="http://minusthesilencer.blogspot.com/2005/12/sirius-installing-sirius-into.html">previous</a> <a href="http://minusthesilencer.blogspot.com/2006/03/sirius-installing-sirius-into-audi-a4.html">installs</a> had the benefit of being able to utilize the factory radio, the particulars of this vehicle <a href="http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?s=da51262de9b3e3c8bb3b23c6b4da5e03&p=707441&postcount=18">prevented that</a>. As such, it was necessary to replace the head unit with an after-market stereo. I ordered everything I needed from <a href="http://www.crutchfield.com/">Crutchfield</a> and I highly recommend going through them if you intend to do the same. On orders over $129, they include everything you need to install the stereo and this came in very useful.<br /><ol><li>Pioneer <a href="http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?I=130dehp380">DEH-P3800MP</a> stereo</li><li>Pioneer <a href="http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?i=130SIRPNR2">SIR-PNR2</a> Sirius receiver</li><li>Hyundai in-dash receiver kit (Crutchfield part no. <a href="http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?i=003HYK1118">003HYK1118</a>)</li><li>Hyundai wire harness receiver (Crutchfield part no. <a href="http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?i=120707301">120707301</a>)</li><li>Extra wire (about 16 guage) and butt crimps</li><li><a href="http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1292812">Wire connectors</a><br /></li></ol>The first order of business is to disconnect the negative terminal on the battery. Next, remove the components from the center of the dashboard. Start with the environmental controls by removing the ashtray and screws located there. You should be able to reach up and pull this piece out disconnecting the various wires as you go. Now you can remove two vertically-oriented screws that are connected to the top piece. Once this is done remove the piece containing the vents and digital clock.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkexNkw4U_KFN-8tdoLh7YshGw1EBDRM3j895NGdK5qomjbusQYOvsGhcpqfj0c_rvzbEv9bZdzJHojR_YDBRSp0we613htjHGgPNxMVmavRkcpGqTN_O5Nf9abS_i8B0Td2Im/s1600-h/IMGP2889.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkexNkw4U_KFN-8tdoLh7YshGw1EBDRM3j895NGdK5qomjbusQYOvsGhcpqfj0c_rvzbEv9bZdzJHojR_YDBRSp0we613htjHGgPNxMVmavRkcpGqTN_O5Nf9abS_i8B0Td2Im/s400/IMGP2889.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5016359054896162850" border="0" /></a><br />Taking out the radio is easy now. At this point you'll want to fit your stereo into the in-dash receiver kit and adjust the included trim if necessary. My particular setup required ¼" being taken off of each side in order to get the perfect fit.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQhT8bPqZc5pD6JnTnOLgiQaTQ877sfKzMM6gMuNu1EFkUCfOiia0B_zzr19_Z9_I3govTs0aYxSEj_t0nKmJ_6uk7wzupPVOaYm3biuLAWH9Rn9yrV3fpRX-srAhpLv5rsDPt/s1600-h/IMGP2891.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQhT8bPqZc5pD6JnTnOLgiQaTQ877sfKzMM6gMuNu1EFkUCfOiia0B_zzr19_Z9_I3govTs0aYxSEj_t0nKmJ_6uk7wzupPVOaYm3biuLAWH9Rn9yrV3fpRX-srAhpLv5rsDPt/s400/IMGP2891.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5016362576769345586" border="0" /></a><br />Attach the Hyundai wire harness receiver to the plug that was originally plugged into the factory radio. Color match the wires to those on the new head unit and connect them using the wire connectors. Don't worry if not all of the wires are used, just be sure those particular ends are wrapped with electrical tape.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgutPW0UQqV_NV64sLhjqDMgE5Tusjnr269mVQUDZ1Qv2xiPITsAj30zSdy-HF_INF16rR1qU1Ax4I1U6y_BQWif1KzwnYCqBKYhqHYcw0u5xnxh1Wx1EapUuCDegf4qWJTeiBY/s1600-h/IMGP2894.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgutPW0UQqV_NV64sLhjqDMgE5Tusjnr269mVQUDZ1Qv2xiPITsAj30zSdy-HF_INF16rR1qU1Ax4I1U6y_BQWif1KzwnYCqBKYhqHYcw0u5xnxh1Wx1EapUuCDegf4qWJTeiBY/s400/IMGP2894.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5016363684870907970" border="0" /></a><br />Now we will install the Sirius receiver. You have two options: 1) Place it underneath the passenger seat or 2) Place it underneath the <span style="font-weight: bold;">rear</span> passenger seat. There are pros and cons to each but placing it under the rear seat is much tougher.<br /><br />Attach the blue end of the the IP-bus cable to the back of the receiver in addition to the wire harness and FM radio antenna cable. If are you going for just the passenger seat, route the other end of the IP-bus cable behind the glove compartment, down the side and underneath the door trim which you can simply tuck it under. For those who choose the latter option, the short length of the IP-bus cable requires that you instead route it underneath the center console and carpet leading to the rear passenger seat. You'll need to loosen the center console with a ratchet and run a coat hanger under the carpet if you go with this option.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzPVyOy7D2CGWihLuzvEqHotiseaFB0BdyTP3MDAmwmfmGTOrsWt8hXvaO7IgOGh4Vdgy1qUTBc8s0zPJ3Ac1Ix9F9HKOX59DFxtUmKKQIoYcoxVX_w7EMjl3QCisBrVlwweBM/s1600-h/IMGP2892.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzPVyOy7D2CGWihLuzvEqHotiseaFB0BdyTP3MDAmwmfmGTOrsWt8hXvaO7IgOGh4Vdgy1qUTBc8s0zPJ3Ac1Ix9F9HKOX59DFxtUmKKQIoYcoxVX_w7EMjl3QCisBrVlwweBM/s400/IMGP2892.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5016365724980373586" border="0" /></a><br />With the Sirius receiver in place, you now need to hook it up to a power source. While it's possible to reuse the path followed by the IP-bus cable, I highly recommend routing it instead along the driver's side of the car to avoid any possible interference with the signal to the head unit. In addition, this has the benefit of placing the ends of the wire directly next to the fusebox located underneath the steering column on the left side. You'll want to splice in the extra wire at this point so that it is long enough to reach. The wire can tap directly into the fuse labeled "Audio" thus ensuring that the receiver remains on when the stereo is on.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLdt7uQzJtt5bBYanhSxwAcVLDAf_yJRJUDd0WkD3U6wNIhYntBPmCWTRc1RNkRiR1BxhsS5-bv2-PLJyFvT2L4fj-gQsf4SKySGAmCo_AiguAHzzzNCb0KB4bbKtF5GcdoiKL/s1600-h/IMGP2897.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLdt7uQzJtt5bBYanhSxwAcVLDAf_yJRJUDd0WkD3U6wNIhYntBPmCWTRc1RNkRiR1BxhsS5-bv2-PLJyFvT2L4fj-gQsf4SKySGAmCo_AiguAHzzzNCb0KB4bbKtF5GcdoiKL/s400/IMGP2897.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5016368246126176354" border="0" /></a><br />From the rear of the car, route the Sirius antenna wire down through the small space between the rear hatch and the roof. Tuck the wire into the gasket running along the edge towards the passenger side. Have it enter the car through the trim running along the roof edge and snake the wire towards the front. Depending on where you installed the Sirius receiver, route the antenna wire out from the floor through the door trim.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmNmLlLCor8ptgsRgHt-FjRdyKBpfxSmPMNuIL9j4NtAkaYsS53Ms847-nhpc1xhQSu7PK7qshUsVO9yJiLFziMmGwLoPAscV7EMW0AvYkyneJOIW5gzKzq57fYWfXX4Z1XWiU/s1600-h/IMGP2902.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmNmLlLCor8ptgsRgHt-FjRdyKBpfxSmPMNuIL9j4NtAkaYsS53Ms847-nhpc1xhQSu7PK7qshUsVO9yJiLFziMmGwLoPAscV7EMW0AvYkyneJOIW5gzKzq57fYWfXX4Z1XWiU/s400/IMGP2902.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5016369680645253234" border="0" /></a><br />Make sure all wires are attached to their proper components. Reattach the negative terminal on the battery and turn the key to accessory mode. The stereo should start with FM radio selected. Press the volume control knob to select the Sirius receiver as a source. If you see 'SIRIUS' displayed then congratulations, you are ready to activate your unit and listen to the best that satellite radio has to offer.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzbUq-R5C9sG0e_RmHmbSigRVbvFePAFj6_HA6T_ZqetHdoqrTzCPW-7nQpX5b6Y2tp_j9zkL-nKnGJM26GntCFmyUe-rF_HGF2ks6GjJ9Z_MBtlcxhOYtxIQFKJ4l0JqhC6O0/s1600-h/IMGP2900.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzbUq-R5C9sG0e_RmHmbSigRVbvFePAFj6_HA6T_ZqetHdoqrTzCPW-7nQpX5b6Y2tp_j9zkL-nKnGJM26GntCFmyUe-rF_HGF2ks6GjJ9Z_MBtlcxhOYtxIQFKJ4l0JqhC6O0/s400/IMGP2900.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5016373327072487554" border="0" /></a><br /><u>Questions?</u><br />Email me at <a href="mailto:sean.soper@gmail.com">sean.soper@gmail.com</a> if you have any.<br /><br /><u>Legal stuff</u><br />All brands mentioned in this document are copyright of their respective owners. I am not responsible if your equipment or vehicle malfunctions after following these instructions. You may copy this information as you see fit but please cite this article as a source if you do so.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-61523735959646729012006-12-31T20:45:00.000-05:002006-12-31T20:45:20.157-05:00A Year of ChangeThis year, if nothing else, has been one of change. In January, I was living in Melbourne, Florida working for a health insurance company. I knew full well that my job would probably be outsourced, or at the very least, reduced in scope but was determined to stick with it. In May, while at a particular low point with my job, I was given the opportunity to pursue my dream; to work in a big city doing software development using what I believe is the future of web application development. Less than two weeks after my <a href="http://minusthesilencer.blogspot.com/2006/05/general-changes.html">interview</a>, I was in Washington, D.C. building a health portal in Ruby on Rails.<br /><br />The people in my life have also changed. For many of the friends I had in Melbourne, I no longer maintain much contact with them save for an occasional IM or email. But with others, the friendship has blossomed since my leaving and in at least one case, that person has also come to D.C. for economic opportunities, joining the other ex-Melbournites in the area.<br /><br />But where I have lost friends as a result of my move, I have also gained many in the time since moving here. Work has been a great source of new friendships, one in particular which has blossomed into something unexpectedly beautiful. She has brought something into my life that I didn't think I was ready for, something which I needed more than I realized. I'm looking forward to what this year will bring for both of us.<br /><br />As I walked down the jetway upon my arrival at Reagan, I realized that it was only six months ago that I left this exact same airport with aspirations of returning. I have, only this time from a place that I've always considered home. Now I have come to call this slice of urban jungle home and I feel more <span style="font-style: italic;">at home</span> here than I ever have outside of California.<br /><br />No doubt this year will bring more change, some bad and some good. But I will face it with the same tenacity, open-mindedness and positive attitude that I always have.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-25803572762425508162006-12-25T22:04:00.000-05:002006-12-25T23:59:18.029-05:00Blood diamonds and their impact on mainstream America<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWnSCjyfwfJ6POGyOwFJmuVCFiAXMFD7YgWoSU_-zQvq3iVmcGNwbdrlj99DPe9hzLpJXmVIy2oiqZNk04ejgxETcK6GOiqch1nU05PW2Ep9IvrwCZCRfhXytl7GtB1HhNMZAq/s1600-h/BDPoster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWnSCjyfwfJ6POGyOwFJmuVCFiAXMFD7YgWoSU_-zQvq3iVmcGNwbdrlj99DPe9hzLpJXmVIy2oiqZNk04ejgxETcK6GOiqch1nU05PW2Ep9IvrwCZCRfhXytl7GtB1HhNMZAq/s320/BDPoster.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5012694471142862626" border="0" /></a>The latest cause célèbre seems to be blood diamonds. Conflict diamonds, as they are more commonly known, constitute only 1% of the total diamond trade but lately they have been making quite the splash in popular culture. They have been mentioned in media as disparate as Kanye West's song <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamonds_from_Sierra_Leone"><span style="font-style: italic;">Diamonds from Sierra Leone</span></a> to Nicholas Cage's movie <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_war"><span style="font-style: italic;">Lord of War</span></a>. But none of these works has addressed the issue as directly as Edward Zwick's latest film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450259/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Blood Diamond</span></a>.<br /><br />The film starts out with our archetype hero, Danny Archer, plying his trade in conflict diamonds. Through a series of mishaps, he becomes entangled with a native by the name of Solomon Vandy, whom he agrees to help on condition that he gets access to the near perfect pink diamond that Vandy discovered while working in the slave labor mines of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_United_Front">RUF</a>. Danny will end up using all his contacts and ingenuity to get what he wants but eventually, he does find the diamond.<br /><br />Yet instead of leading to great wealth, this leads to personal tragedy, at least for Danny. The true hero of this story comes to be Vandy, who escapes to London and eventually gives a speech to the U.N. on the dangers of conflict diamonds. The movie ends on a hopeful note and yet I can't help but be reminded of how similarly themed features were popular in the early 1990s.<br /><br />At the time, the shrinking rain forest was a global concern and attracted a large amount of attention as a result. Various celebrities spoke out about the issue and some even made <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104839/">movies</a> about it. Yet it hasn't been on the radar of the public for at least a decade. Recent <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1021/p04s01-sten.html">articles </a>suggest that the Amazon is disappearing at twice the rate as previously estimated. Being the perpetual optimist, I can only hope that the issue of blood diamonds is resolved rather than forgotten about as other important global issues have been.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-91700505488173995722006-12-10T23:58:00.000-05:002007-01-04T22:19:07.532-05:00A Tenacious D weekend<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdHoJw7dYBYZedLIMXujyE719HR-DD9wKkDneeLkS0kU9UfGyGN6u25txYHZFSf-GMar8tA6IZZqGQOxKXhWeunYnXCJnDU_3mA1Yw99b4CFrYfcfJu29xHJOpy_omyMO_umBd/s1600-h/TD_Pick_of_Destiny_Poster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdHoJw7dYBYZedLIMXujyE719HR-DD9wKkDneeLkS0kU9UfGyGN6u25txYHZFSf-GMar8tA6IZZqGQOxKXhWeunYnXCJnDU_3mA1Yw99b4CFrYfcfJu29xHJOpy_omyMO_umBd/s320/TD_Pick_of_Destiny_Poster.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5011513518345219778" border="0" /></a>With my company's <a href="http://www.revolutionhealth.com/preview?code=dEkMCEXwFh">product</a> growing closer to launch, I was busier than ever the first full week of December. When Saturday finally came, it was a welcome relief from the hustle and bustle of writing and testing code. This weekend was especially anticipated because it was set to be a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenacious_d">Tenacious D</a> weekend.<br /><br />I don't consider myself a fan of the D but not because I don't like their music. In fact, I think it's great stuff but I've just never taken the time to listen to much more than what my friends have recommended. The first time I heard about their new song "Pick of Destiny" was on Sirius <a href="http://sirius.com/AltNation">Alt Nation</a>, which has been playing it seemingly non-stop for the past month in anticipation of the movie by the same title. When my friend Beth said she was getting tickets for their upcoming concert show at the GMU <a href="http://www.patriotcenter.com/">Patriot Center</a>, I made sure to get my name in. She took it even further by organizing an outing on Saturday to go see the movie.<br /><br />Despite being nearly 40 minutes late to the theater, I walked in right when the film started thanks to a series of delays on the part of the projectionist. I went into the movie with no expectations whatsoever and came out with a much greater understanding of what the D is about. The rock opera, for lack of a better term, is a fictional retelling of how Jack Black and Kyle Gass met, formed the band and eventually did battle with Satan. It had its share of laughs and featured cameos by the likes of Ben Stiller, Tim Robbins and several others.<br /><br />The next night we continued our Tenacious D experience. First stop was Beth's new place in Alexandria which she shared with a roommate. This roommate has a fridge literally stocked to the brim with beer and a stand-up arcade machine with every <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter_II">awesome game</a> on it from 1980 to the early 1990s. We whittled away the time drinking and playing video games from our childhood.<br /><br />At about 7pm, we headed on over to the Patriot Center and got there just in time for the start of the opening act. It was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Hamburger">Neil Hamburger</a>, a somewhat well-known comic who goes for laughs in a roundabout way. Essentially, he told really bad jokes while loudly clearing his throat between each telling. This one was a real gem:<br /><blockquote>Why did the Taliban burn 200 copies of Pink Floyd's <span style="font-style: italic;">Dark Side of the Moon</span> album? Well, because their music sucked.</blockquote>Ha ha! I consider myself a Pink Floyd fan and even I thought that was funny. Maybe it was the beer. Oh well, he wasn't on stage much more than 20 minutes and then the real act began.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4gr6jhAnS6HQlwru12Q6NESAS3bPumHMW3yUx4UVof806ynFalciPPqLuUMhO0ZWv0FaZOEX_41o4nIPG25ag2X7Oe87lZLVB0hs9eM79U-p4dtP0blYoGmrLP8VWfh5ttY4c/s1600-h/SSPX0692.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4gr6jhAnS6HQlwru12Q6NESAS3bPumHMW3yUx4UVof806ynFalciPPqLuUMhO0ZWv0FaZOEX_41o4nIPG25ag2X7Oe87lZLVB0hs9eM79U-p4dtP0blYoGmrLP8VWfh5ttY4c/s200/SSPX0692.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5011513982201687762" border="0" /></a>Jack Black and Kyle Gass appeared with a couch behind them, acting for all the world as if they were in their living room. They played a few sets until quite accidentally, they were electrocuted and woke up to found themselves in the pits of hell. Once there, they decided to make the best of their situation and gather the most awesome band members they could. They went with the Antichrist, Charlie Chaplin and Colonel Sanders, all of whom were available and willing to play with them. Together they rocked the house, did battle with Satan and made prolific use of the F word. In a sense, the concert was a live version of their movie, albeit with less special effects.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS9RXDOuEmd0npy7VTAr5sqhtfsl2nx5BI0aJQqXEQ2gmHw_1HrY1lW0LTF2ln7MaaLAc1j4eo7xls5F4-jqRpacj5p4UUe-nE0-i-Fiz4aXHm9QeB4IRfztWpwDVojB5GWEe3/s1600-h/SSPX0694.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS9RXDOuEmd0npy7VTAr5sqhtfsl2nx5BI0aJQqXEQ2gmHw_1HrY1lW0LTF2ln7MaaLAc1j4eo7xls5F4-jqRpacj5p4UUe-nE0-i-Fiz4aXHm9QeB4IRfztWpwDVojB5GWEe3/s200/SSPX0694.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5011517568499379986" border="0" /></a>Their encore performance included songs off their previous CD plus some covers of songs from The Who. In fact, the very last song they played was "Listening to you" off the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_%28rock_opera%29">Tommy</a> album. Perhaps these musical geniuses were paying homage to the masterpiece that gave birth to the rock opera genre. Whatever their motives, it was an incredible concert that has left an indelible imprint on me.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-24441951308019848132006-11-28T22:27:00.000-05:002007-02-06T15:09:16.087-05:00Mario's last day at workWhen I first started at my current company, I was placed in the Ruby group working on community-oriented features. At that time we were a mishmash of Ruby, Java and Python but eventually the scope was reduced such that Java was nearly taken out of the picture all together. As a result, many of the Java programmers found themselves without much work to do and so they picked up a Ruby book and started reading.<br /><br />Within a few weeks they were all up to speed and cranking out code. Slowly, we stopped seeing each other as Ruby vs. Java and begin to identify instead with the product we were working on. Old alliances gave way to new ones and people who I had once thought of as hostile seemed much more amicable.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEpPKARijYAWVKtxR8J_pRRuIaEQIbN8TJfhzGXMw4Hh3IeKAS0pGuRkXc7klE86kspAnmR6v8IHhmNq1ovooD7iUMoRKcU1F8METOi1G493C_Eg2I7bO15Lbt-OmkrKaM7SA2/s1600-h/Mario.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEpPKARijYAWVKtxR8J_pRRuIaEQIbN8TJfhzGXMw4Hh3IeKAS0pGuRkXc7klE86kspAnmR6v8IHhmNq1ovooD7iUMoRKcU1F8METOi1G493C_Eg2I7bO15Lbt-OmkrKaM7SA2/s200/Mario.jpg" title="It's a me, Mario!" alt="It's a me, Mario!" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5004366691568953954" border="0" /></a>One of these formerly hostile types was a guy named Mario. His height and booming voice combined to make him stand out in our colorless cube farm. He also had a strange occupation with a place called Java Green where he went everyday for lunch and returned boasting of their tofu chicken and rice bowl. I eventually accompanied him on one of these outings and offered him my advice on which Ruby book was best for a beginner with lots of Java experience.<br /><br />That was nearly three months ago and in the time since we've become great friends. From late nights at work writing "f'ing migrations", as he so eloquently put it, to clubbing at 1223 across the street, we've certainly had an interesting past couple of months. And despite that his new job is way out in the 'burbs, I am confident that we will remain great friends.<br /><br />Mario, you will be missed.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-47982044386240313992006-11-14T20:54:00.000-05:002006-11-14T23:29:19.465-05:00Hustle and bustleLast week was quite busy for me so let me see if I can provide a quick rundown. Monday I think was my only down day, if you could apply such a label to a day that starts at 7am and ends somewhere around 12am. The next morning I was up bright and early to go vote for progressive change at the ballot box. Though I was dismayed to see the amendment banning gay marriage pass, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Jim Webb, a Democrat, would be Virgnia's newest Senator. He has an excellent record and I think he'll represent us well.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/3842/2273/1600/SSPX0664.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/3842/2273/200/SSPX0664.jpg" alt="Death Cab for Cutie at DAR Constitution Hall" title="Death Cab for Cutie at DAR Constitution Hall" border="0" /></a>Tuesday evening I went see <a href="http://www.deathcabforcutie.com/">Death Cab for Cutie</a> at <a href="http://www.dar.org/conthall/">DAR Constitution Hall</a>. I didn't know very many of their songs aside from what I'd heard on <a href="http://sirius.com/AltNation">Alt Nation</a> but it was a pretty good concert regardless. Afterwards, while walking to the Archives metro stop, I spoke to my parents on my cell phone and learned of the Democrats impending victory just as I was passing by the White House. This caused me to make an impromptu demonstration right there, in the general direction of the west wing. It was a small "gesture", most likely noticed by no one, but it felt good nonetheless.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/3842/2273/1600/sean%20and%20jayashri.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/3842/2273/200/sean%20and%20jayashri.jpg" title="Sean and Jayashri" alt="Sean and Jayashri" border="0" /></a>Wednesday looked to be winding down to a calm evening until Sanjeev, the recruiter that brought me to my current company and in general a cool guy to hang out with, invited me to a happy hour at <a href="http://www.scienceclubdc.com/">Science Club</a> just down the street. I figured I could go there for a few beers keeping in mind that I had a dentist appointment early the next morning. I ended up staying a bit later and having a really great time as many of the faces there were familiar. Jayashri was there too which was awesome since she lives all the way up in Columbia.<br /><br />Finally, the day I had been dreading arrived. Two weeks previous, I had gone into the dentist for a routine cleaning only to find out that I had a slight case of gingivitis on my back molars. Now don't panic people, it's actually more common than you think. Probably even more so for those of us with less-than-stellar dentists who never alerted us to the issue. Fortunately, I'm with a great dentist now although I wasn't heaping such praise on them while they did what's called a "deep cleaning" on my gums. The local anesthesia helped but the best solution would have been a better brushing regimen so that I could have avoided the entire issue. So remember kids, don't forget to floss!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/3842/2273/1600/macbookpro15.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/3842/2273/200/macbookpro15.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Any free time I had this past week was spent playing with my newest toy, a <a href="http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/">MacBook Pro</a>. That's right, I've opted to convert to the "other" platform and I am not looking back. After hearing that such Ruby luminaries like <a href="http://www.loudthinking.com/">DHH</a> himself used a Mac and seeing so many of my co-workers using them, I decided to take the plunge. I'll write a full length article on it sometime in the next few weeks. For now, rest assured that this platform is absolutely amazing to work with for both development and daily computer use.<br /><br />This week is looking to be just as hectic, though hopefully less painful, than last week. I just got back from seeing my buddy <a href="http://minusthesilencer.blogspot.com/2006/08/general-what-week.html">Steve</a> out in Fairfax where he's staying for the next few days while he's in town for work. Tomorrow I'll be taking in an opera and Thursday through Sunday is booked solid with various dinner parties and get togethers. After that it's Thanksgiving and then onto December!Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18624258.post-34392372837410972032006-11-05T22:32:00.000-05:002006-11-08T00:13:55.697-05:00How to throw a Guy Fawkes party<i>Remember, remember the fifth of November<br /></i><i>The Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.</i><i><br />I see no reason why the gunpowder treason</i><i><br />should ever be forgot.</i><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/3842/2273/1600/v%20for%20vendetta%20cover.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/3842/2273/200/v%20for%20vendetta%20cover.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>401 years ago, a group of conspirators attempted to blow up the English parliament. Their demolitions expert, a man by the name of Guy Fawkes, was caught with several barrels of explosives beneath the building, ready to set them off. From there the entire conspiracy fell apart with most of the participants being hanged, including Guy Fawkes. I first read of the event on Wikipedia a few years ago but it wasn't until I saw <span style="font-style: italic;">V for Vendetta</span> that I was inspired to do more.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/3842/2273/1600/IMGP2794.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/3842/2273/200/IMGP2794.jpg" title="Kidney, it's what's for dinner!" alt="Kidney, it's what's for dinner!" border="0" /></a>By more, I don't mean anything political of course but instead something more celebratory. In this case, a dinner party. I prepared five separate courses and invited a gaggle of friends over. Authentic English beer in the form of Guinness and Boddington's Pub ale were made available. I had also planned on us watching the aforementioned movie but time constraints on a Sunday evening meant everybody leaving by about 9:30pm.<br /><ol><li><a href="http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Welsh-Rabbit/Detail.aspx">Welsh rabbit</a></li><li><a href="http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cornish-Pasty/Detail.aspx">Cornish pasty</a></li><li><a href="http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Steak-and-Kidney-Pie-with-Bacon-and-Mushrooms/Detail.aspx">Steak and kidney pie</a></li><li><a href="http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Veggie-Bangers/Detail.aspx">Veggie bangers</a></li><li><a href="http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Old-Fashioned-Carrot-Pudding/Detail.aspx">Old-fashioned carrot pudding</a></li></ol><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/3842/2273/1600/IMGP2796.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/3842/2273/200/IMGP2796.jpg" title="Shayan looking satiated" alt="Shayan looking satiated" border="0" /></a>The courses listed above all turned out great and I ended up with tons of leftovers. It was my first time cooking authentic English meals and as one of my friends so assiduously put it, the food was 'quite dense'. Unfortunately some of the other things that go along with the celebration, such as fireworks and the burning of a Guy Fawkes effigy, were not possible due to local ordinances. But we had a great time nonetheless and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.Seanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16600919477147207232noreply@blogger.com0