It’s been a while, but I was inspired to write a blog post. You see, in the last year or so I’ve had a few moments of clarity about myself. When you have these moments like I did, you realize that they don’t come along that often. Get ready because this is some really deep stuff (ahem).
1 - I like food that is small in size, but large in quantity.
Yup, read it again. I know your next question: what are some examples?
Sprinkles. I love sprinkles. I’ve been told that I have sort of a problem. I don’t think I do- they’re sprinkles! … brightly colored, crunchy, small, and completely edible! I mainly eat them on ice cream (but i won’t claim i’ve never eaten a straight spoonful). I prefer rainbow, but chocolate are cool too. I used to buy the small tin at the supermarket for $3.49 but then I got smart and ordered bulk quantities on eBay (6lbs of rainbow sprinkles for 12 dollars!). I never thought my love of sprinkles was a big deal or that unusual, but I’ve been informed that it is.
Couscous. Getting the idea here? They’re small, there’s lots of them, so i like them. Back in my bachelor days I could eat a whole box of “Near East” couscous for dinner. My wife Jessie informed me that it wasn’t a well-balanced meal. Huh … well OK maybe not.
Angel hair pasta. Slight variation here but the spirit is the same - small in diameter, large in quantity. I prefer Pesto sauce. In fact, i boycotted red sauce for a while cause I got tired of it. Speaking of boycotting, that brings me to my next life revelation …
2 - I’m not going to drink wine anymore
Look it’s not that i hate wine or have some big issue with it, I’d just rather drink other alcoholic beverages. I don’t particularly like wine, and I don’t have a great palette for it (in a blindfold test i could probably tell you if it was red or white) and so you know what? Not gonna drink it anymore. In case you’re wondering, i like beer, bourbon, vodka, and gin (I drink them separately, of course).
3 - Liquid and leather.
These are the two forms in which I eat fruit. So to clarify: If you want me to eat fruit (Jessie tells me it’s healthy) give it to me in liquid form (e.g. a smoothie, or ‘Naked’ juice) or give me some fruit leather (it’s like a natural fruit roll-up) and I’m in!
OK, that about wraps it up. I eagerly await my next moment of clarity. I hope others will be inspired to look inward, dig deep, and uncover some truly profound, fundamental, life-altering revelations like I recently have. Feel free to share with us if you do …
This morning, there was a five alarm fire in downtown Natick only 2 blocks from my house (the old Punchbowl HQ). It was quite a scene. The entire building was lost, including five businesses that were housed in the building.
Consider this your public service announcement to check your fire insurance policy….
If you like watching fires (or you just like firemen) here’s a video of the fire, courtesy of the Metrowest Daily News article:
I’m sitting in Logan airport (Boston) on route to San Francisco this afternoon. This morning I packed, making sure to follow the TSA guidelines for liquids and gels….
Which brings me to my rant of the day: why oh why don’t the toothpaste companies offer a bigger sized travel toothpaste? The “standard” travel toothpaste is 0.85 ounces. You know, the kind you get for free at the dentist:
Now I don’t know about you, but I like to brush my teeth a few times a day — at least twice, and often three times. A 0.85 ounce toothpaste lasts about 2 days (maybe 3 if I ration carefully). In the past, I used to bring my larger toothpaste from home — one of those 4.6oz ones. However, the maximum I can bring through TSA is 3 ounces. What to do?
Yesterday I stopped at CVS to see if I could solve my dilemmna. But CVS only sells large sized toothpaste and the small travel size. So I purchased two of the smaller ones (which raises an interesting question for TSA: can I bring an unlimited number of travel sized toothpastes as long as they are in seperate containers? Oh, the danger!).
I really hope that the toothpaste manufacturers realize that anyone who travels for more than a few days at a time needs more than 0.85 ounces of toothpaste — to maximize the amount of toothpaste without going over the TSA limit. I’ll be a lifelong supporter of whichever company puts it out first.
I ranted about this to my wife as I was getting ready for the trip, and she (in her amusing sarcasm) reminded me that you can’t buy toothpaste in San Francisco. Yeah, well I guess I could do that. But that wouldn’t be efficient.
It’s Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 — the first Saturday in May. That means it’s Kentucky Derby Day.
As I sit in my home office on this rainy morning, my wife is downstairs preparing Mint Juleps and various southern foods (from the smells I’m guessing pulled chicken, corn bread, and sweet potato pie). My job is to help set up the chairs in front of the TV and nail down the betting rules. Here’s what I got so far:
$2 to enter. Pick a horse randomly from the hat. If you pick Big Brown, Colonel John or Pyro (one of the three top horses on the morning line), you have a choice to make:
For Big Brown: pay 5 times more (total bet $12) or choose another horse
For Colonel John pay 3 times more (total bet $8) or choose another horse
For Pyro: pay 2 times more (total bet $6) or choose another horse
3rd place: Double total bet, 2nd place: Triple total bet, 1st place: Remaining pot A few of the Punchbowlers will be coming over to the house this afternoon (it’s not a required company event like our annual Groundhog Day Party but they’re coming anyway!) Should be a fun afternoon. MyPunchbowl was very useful for our online invitations and potluck coordination. Damn, I wish we could have purchased Kentucky Derby party supplies through MyPunchbowl. Someday….
Whether you’re having a party or not, turn on the TV around 6pm EST (NBC) for the best two minutes in sports. See it once and you’ll be hooked. Happy Kentucky Derby Day!
I’m taking some time over the next week to unplug from the office. I’ll be shutting down completely, not reading emails or connected to the web world….
In the meantime, here are a few related blog posts to read:
Boston is famous for its Italian North End– if you ever come for a visit to Boston, make sure you check it out. I’ve been to the North End many times, and I’ve eaten at about ten of the many restaurants in the area.
Last night, with my wife’s family in town, we headed out to the North End for dinner. We ate at a restaurant called Fiore, right on Hanover Street (the main drag through the North End). Dinner was fantastic– fresh antipasta, perfect chicken parm (my favorite) and a tiramisu that was out of this world. The bottle of Sangiovese was pretty damn good too.
If you ever have to choose an Italian restaurant in the North End, check out Fiore. It’s by far the best Italian restaurant I’ve been to in the North End.
I got this bizarre email from my brother this morning… and felt the urge to share.
Disclaimer: My brother is currently taking the legal bar exam in Dallas, TX. This is Day 3 of the exam, so he’s a bit loopy by this point….
From Joshua: “I had a dream last night that you visited san antonio, came to the chambers, and showed us MyPunchbowl’s new “product.” You took a loaf of bread, sliced it, and then put it back into the bag. Then you took a power cord, stuck it into one end, and put the other end into a banana. It made banana bread.”
Um…. cool Joshua. Thanks for sharing. And CONGRATS on finishing the bar exam!
I just read the breaking news that John Edwards is bowing out of the presidential race. That’s really too bad–John Edwards is a great reminder of what makes this country great. John is a lower-middle class kid from the South who rose to national prominence. Stunning, really.
I had the great pleasure of sharing a flight with John Edwards a few years ago. I’ll never forget how much he struck me as “just a regular guy.” When I sat next to him, he was engrossed in a trashy beach novel. He was friendly and personable and we shared a few moments reminiscing about how our Tar Heels just beat those rascals from Dook.
After the flight, John asked if I’d like to take a picture together. I didn’t know it at the time, but John was on his way to the cancer center in Boston where his wife was about to begin chemotherapy. With all that was swirling through his head, he had the grace and awareness to stop and take a photo with me. A true southern gentleman.
John: thanks for all that you’ve done to raise the nation’s conciousness on key issues of poverty and job creation. We hardly got a chance to know you as a presidential candidate– I just hope that whoever is the eventual nominee is smart enough to choose you as their running mate.
A few times a day, I get emails from friends or family with something amusing on the web to check out. In a typical day, I don’t have time to check it out immediately, so they usually languish in my inbox for a few days. My sister-in-law (Agee) recently sent me something that quickly ended up at the bottom on my inbox for more than a week. Boy, I wish I had seen this earlier!
I’m currently learning how to play guitar, and Agee was my first teacher. Over the holidays (which my wife and I spent in Santa Cruz) Agee showed me some basic chords and I picked it up pretty quickly. I told her that my goal was to be able to sit around a campfire and play tunes and have people sing along. I know that lots of pop songs are made up of the same basic chord structure– so I’m hoping to quickly get to the point where it is fun to play.
To hammer home the point, Agee sent me a brilliant video from a guy named Rob Paravonian. I’ve embedded the video below this blog post– and if you’re a musician, a guitar player of any kind, or even just a person who enjoys music — spend five minutes watching this video: it’s freakin hysterical.
I’m excited to see that RobP is coming to Boston on March 15th. I just bought tickets to the show (note to wife: hope we’re available that night!). Rob apparently has some time to kill when he’s on the road as well. Check out his blog for some amusement.
Thanks to Agee for sending me this fantastic video. I’m off to grab my guitar to learn the only 3 chords that matter.
This morning here in Natick, Massachusetts we are all celebrating a World Series Championship for our Boston Red Sox.
I recall an email I sent to a few friends and family right after the 2004 World Series ended. It went something like this: “I grew up a Mets fan, and although I’ve been following the Red Sox this year, while I watched the celebration tonight I realized that I didn’t feel the utter sense of joy like so many of the fans. I hadn’t suffered for 86 years — in fact, I was on the winning end of the World Series in 1986. So I’m happy for the Red Sox and all of the fans, but I realize that this championship is for all of the fans that have suffered for so long. I hope I get a chance to really celebrate a Red Sox World Series Championship in the future.”
During the celebration last night, one of the Red Sox owners proclaimed that “the 2004 championship was for our grandparents and parents and all of the people who had suffered for years. This championship is for the new generation of Red Sox fans.” That’s exactly how I feel. And it feels great to be able to revel in this World Series win.
As I’ve read blogs this morning, I’ve noticed how many people in the Boston tech community are celebrating on their blogs: Mike Hirshland, Dharmesh (as he writes a must-read article on why you should not re-write your software), and David at 93South.
For all of those who suffered for years, I’m excited to join you this time around. This championship is for me too.
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