MELP

So for whatever reason, blogger won't let me post on The 526, so i hope you all read this post.

MELP 2007 Book Selection

It is the middle of March and snowing outside, so i thought this would be a perfect opportunity to open the floor to suggestions for our MELP book for this coming summer. I don't yet have any of my own suggestions, but consider the floor open for discussion. (I also though if we got this decided a bit earlier than last year, the book could be longer).

For now, lets say there are no restrictions. Any book and every book can be nominated.

Let the discussion begin...

P.S. Mark, might we obscund with your cottage again this summer for this event? Also, what are people's summer schedules looking like?

Christmas Eve: Night One

And then it was Christmas and the holiday was upon us in full swing. Christmas Eve began by my whole family going to church. Bright and early, we all got up and trucked over to FCC to see what John had in store for the Christmas eve service. It felt good to be back in a church, and the coffee hour was like a bustling reunion. It being the holidays, all the people i used to see every Sunday in sunday school were home, and we were all eager to catch up with one another. I found out that Eric and Kristen Hermes (one of the sets of twins i knew growing up) are both in Chicago. It was good to see them, and fun listening to them talk as they both seem pretty happy. Then i caught up with Megan, who is teaching in Grand Blanc. Very cool! I can definitely see her as an awesome teacher. I also chatted with the Gavins and some of the older folks who have always insisted on greeting me with a hug as if i were their own grandchild. After church, the afternoon was pretty chill. My aunt flew in from Arizona, and met us at our house. We then all trucked, or vanned...i suppose, over to my Grandparent's house for the Christmas Eve festivities to commence. There were lots of baked goods, all varieties of nuts, the necessary christmas shrimp, mini-pigs in a blanket (new this year, but strangely addicting), chicken wings, and of course the Christmas pies...i think there was a main course in there somewhere, but between my gorging on appetizers and sweets, i'm not sure i ever got there.

After dinner, it was time for presents, and yours truly played santa (meaning, i got to crawl around under the tree, looking for presents for people and then handing them out).

Once the last scrap of wrapping paper had been cleared away (minus all the presents left under the tree for people who hadn't yet come into town...see Christmas Part 2 - The Christmas Tree Crawl) and with everyone nodding off due to a wonderful dinner...of Pot Roast, that's what the main course was...families started drifting out, heading home to await the arrival of the real Santa.

My Life Doesn't Feel as Boring...

...as this blog would suggest. But perhaps, the lack of posts is instead evidence of this, as opposed to evidence against. So, without further ado, my Christmas vacation was a lot of fun. I flew home on December 20th without incident, though i must admit, since the implementation of heightened security, it is anticlimactic to fly home. Unlike in the movies, there is no sense of anticipation as you leave the plane, because you know you still have at least a 5-10 minute walk before you actually see anyone. And because family and friends can no longer great you as you exit the plane, there is usually a flurry of phone calls back and forth to decide where to meet, taking away from the expectation of seeing someone for the first time in months (you just talked 30 seconds ago, so what is the big deal?). I got in to Metro on time though, so thank goodness for that.

From the moment i stepped off the plane to the food coma immediately following Christmas Day dinner, i was caught up in a flurry of events (it being in the mid 50s almost the whole time i was home, that was the only flurry i would see this Christmas). Wednesday night, since everyone was home, we went out to the Cantina in downtown Royal Oak (mighty fine Mexican if i do say so myself). We then came home and finished decorating the Christmas tree. Now, you may be thinking Dec. 20th is really late to be decorating a tree, but it is tradition that the whole family has to be home in order for decorating to commence, SO, my sister Lisa would not let the tree be decorated until Mary and I got home (which luckily ended up being on the same day). Thursday was Ann Arbor time, so after sleeping in for the first time in awhile, i got my things together and drove out to meet Cadi and Brian for dinner at Connor's (i know its Boston, but i've yet to find an Irish pub that serves Shepard's Pie as tasty as at Connors). Catching up took us late into the night, so i stayed over, and am glad i did, because the next morning, i got to experience the brillance of the workout DVD with the lady with the big eyes. Having gotten up and exercised to start the day, i felt great...and it took me back to the hill house and our morning yoga routines.

After seeing Cadi off to work, i made the trek home to Royal Oak, and walked into a beauitful brunch of pancakes and eggs (don't worry, those of you who just felt reality shift a little, i still don't like eggs), canadian bacon, homemade apple sauce and orange juice. Talk about a sight for an empty stomach! Brunch was then followed by some frantic last minute shopping, before coming home to get ready to go to the theatre!

Another of the more recent family holiday traditions is to go to whatever big play is coming through town. For many years we flip-flopped between Les Mis and Rent, but this year we wanted to branch out so we went to see Spamalot. It was absolutely amazing. The production was top notch, the jokes were right on, and there was even audience participation at the end. And it did my heart good when the main Knight who formerly said Ni, broke out into Bohemian Rhapsody--a nice touch i thought. It was a brillant night, complete with dinner before hand, which ended up being appropriate considering we were to see Monty Python later in the evening. We went to Peabodies in Birmingham, and my mom and uncle ordered the duck. They then both proceeded to hack and stab, but to no avail...the duck was so tough as to be uncuttable, and to make the scene that much funnier, it came on a nice bed of creamy rice, so it slid all over the plate as one tried to stab it. We decided the dish could only have been more perfect if it had been served over a broth of some sort, so the disastorous mess made from trying to eat it could be complete.

I'm sure Saturday involved more last minute shopping as well as perhaps a movie. But bottom line, as was the theme of my vacation, i'm sure it was full of mary, lisa and I being the kind of goofy that only we three can be.

The Last Couple Months

Blogs are such a good idea unless you don't post on them. That is what happened with my livejournal, but i refuse to let such an ellipsis be the end of this blog. So, here are my last couple of months in review.

Thanksgiving: I went home for Thanksgiving and it was really good to be back in Michigan. I love Boston, but i understand the rhythm of Michigan...its kind of like cuddling up in a that threadbare blanket that you have had forever and refuse to get rid of. It just feels right.

Anywho, i saw family and friends (Charlie's is still one of my favorite bars!), and ate a lot of good food. The venue for one of the good food eating nights is quite a tale in of itself. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, my entire extended family (and all of you have a least met some of my family, so you'll appreciate this) went out to dinner at this place called the Dakota Inn. It is a cute, German restaurant located on John R just north of 6 mile. Yep, nice area, right? So we get to this restaurant and the food and beer is of course all German, which was tasty (the food, not the beer). But the best part comes after dinner. All throughtout the night, a piano player had been coming out, playing a set, taking a break, repeat. Around 10pm however, he came out, and flipped on a slide projector, which then projected the lyrics to Joy to the World on the screen. He then gave the crowd a couple chord intro. and we were off. The entire restaurant starts singing...and that, my friends, is the point. On any given weekend, the songs can be anything from broadway hits, to classic motown to just classic, but there is always a sing-along. So the piano player took us through probably 5 or 6 carols, and then the part that everyone is waiting for...a man, either patron or owner i'm not sure, but he could speak German, gets up, kind of stumbles over to this huge bell and rings it. He has everyone's attention. Now he goes over to a wall painting, and we all discover that the painting is actually the lyrics to a german drinking song. With a cane, he points to the words, and pronounces them so the crowd knows what to sing, and then the piano player provides the music. The song continues like that, with the cane man adding words and then the audience singing. By the way he was laughing, i have the feeling the story we were all singing was a bit raunchy, but as it is all in German, who knows what we were saying. After that, we went back to the carols sing-along. It sounds cooky (although you all know my family so hey, what do you expect for an Erwin outting), but it was so much fun, and the whole time we were there i couldn't help but think that we would all have so much fun there. Between those who speak german, and the fact that we all enjoy singing, it would be awesome!

So that was Thanksgiving. Between now and then has been a mantage of homework and working. Even though i am no longer coaching, i still feel crazy busy. And with all of my projects coming due at the same time it makes sence.

My big news is that i just got an internship at Houghton Mifflin (they are the publisher whose logo is the trumpeteer riding a dolphin...books of theirs include all LOTR books, the curious george books, the polar express, petersen field guides, american heritage dictionary). It is exciting because it is an internship in a PR department in a publishing house...i am finally starting to do what i came here to do...but it is also exciting because it is a paid internship, so i don't have to go find another job. I don't have many details other than that i am going to be responsible for keeping track of all of the galley and review copies...bu this means i will know if anything interesting is coming out. The one thing i have heard about is apparently there will be a new LOTR book coming out in April (which i get to help with the publicity for it :D ). So yeah...thats my news.

I am going to be home from Dec. 20 through Jan 14th so i want to see everyone who is going to be in town. Let me know what if any plans there are.

Cambridge Brewing Company's 5 Course Meal

On Saturday evening, I went to a five course meal at the Cambridge Brewing Company. As it is a brewery however, the point of the meal was not only to serve excellent food, but to show off the master brewer's talent at brewing beers (the brewer even stopped by our table to ask if we had any questions about any of the beer, or why he paired certain beers with certain meals).

Now i know what you're thinking, an event like this was wasted on me. But, the first beer was quite sweet, the second beer was kind of wasted on me i'll admit, but by the time i got to the third fourth and fifth beer...well, let's just say the warm fuzzy haze made everything taste good.

So, we got to dinner at 6:30pm, and put in our orders (it is a limited menu as they are serving five courses). I would say we got our food around 7:15pm, and the fun began. For my first course, i had a bowl of Saffroned cauliflower soup and a 1/2 pint of Hefeweizen (which sadly i can't give a description of since it is not one of the houses usual beers). We were given about twenty minutes to savor the soup and the first beer, and then the onlsaught of food and drink began. For an appetizer, i had Thai spiced quail with a mango, cashew and green papaya compote (tasty, but kind of weird as it came out looking like a blackened quail, wings and legs included)and a 1/2 pint Tripel Threat. Next was the salad course. For this, i chose the Artichoke, fennel, hearts of palm, roasted pepper and herbed cheese terrine with a
cracked black pepper and pecorino dressing salad (definitely my second favorite part of the meal), and with that was served a 1/2 pint Golden Ring. Then came the entree for which i had the Roasted duck breast with morel mushroom and barley "risotto", french beans and a savory demi glace with a Tear drop glass of YouEnjoyMyStout. And then my favorite part of the meal was the dessert. I had a Cold fudge "sundae"
with a 1/2 pint Charles River Porter (Deep and dark, full-bodied and robust, our Porter is crammed full of rich, roasted malt character. With underlying notes of fruitness, caramel and toffee, it finishes with a strong hop presence. _OG: 1.060 FG: 1.014 ABV: 6.0%...this is the only one they have a description of on the website).

I write all this not to brag (okay, i might be bragging a little), but because i just kept thinking all night about how much our group (being the beer snobs you all are) would have enjoyed it, and because without the constant prodding and having me try all different beers over the years, i would not have enjoyed the evening nearly as much. For that, i thank you all :D

Friday Night Gilmore Girls, and a Game of Monopoly

I am currently waiting for my roommate to get home with dinner, and then we are going to watch this weeks episode of Gilmore Girls...may i just say, TiVo is a brillant thing. After dinner and TV, her boyfriend is going to join us for a game of monopoly, so this night should be pretty chill.

On other note, can i say how much i love living in a city where everyone has the chance of being related to someone who has connections. So, a few weeks ago, i met a girl who is the main rep. for VIP ticket sales for the Boston Bruins. I haven't traveled that avenue yet, but i am hoping to score some tickets (maybe discounted or free?) to the first game the Red Wings play here. Its an amazing feeling living in a city where you can actually by hockey tickets.

The really cool person i met just yesterday though, was the wife of one of my co-workers who just happens to work for the Boston Ballet. Since i moved here, i've wanted to go see Don Quixote the ballet (me being into dance and that kind of thing). So, when they (my co-worker and his wife) mentioned that they had just come from seeing the ballet, and i was like "wow, was it good because i really want to see that" she responded by saying she could get me comp tickets. Long story shorter than i could probably take to tell it, I am going to see the ballet on sunday for free, and the tickets are press tickets, meaning they will be good seats. I am excited! Anywho, i have two tickets set aside for me and the age old delimma of no one to take. But yeah, my roommate just got home with dinner, so ciao for now.

SO BORED!!!!

There is nothing worse then sitting alone in your room on a Saturday night (with the excitement of two great sports victories still lingering), having absolutely nothing to do. Yes, of course I could be doing homework, but it is a saturday night for goodness sake. I'm young and in Boston, i should be out enjoying the night. But instead, I am staring at my computer, incredibly antsy, but not knowing what to do. The two people i know from my program aren't answering their phones, one roommate is off with her boyfriend and the other is already in bed. I have got to get to know more people and fast! This is ridiculous. And that is my rant for now.