Archive for category Entertainment
Dinner in Washington at D’Acqua
Posted by nedster in Entertainment, Food, Fun, Vacation on 2009/07/22
So… I am way behind on this, as well as my posting of my photos from the trip… it’s been a month and they still aren’t up? I am just terrible.
Anyway, dinner in Washington at D’Acqua was amazing.
When we were planning our trip it was decided that we would go out for a “nice” dinner one of the nights, when looking at our schedule, we realized it was either Monday Night or Friday night for this nice meal since we would be at the Red Sox/Nationals games Tuesday through Thursday, and arriving Sunday night we weren’t in the mood to get all dressed up after traveling to go out for a nice meal.
We didn’t check places out ahead of time, we sort of just winged it the whole time while there. Before I get into D’Acqua though, I need to explain the other 2 meals we had out in the city.
The night of our arrival, we kind of just wandered to find a place, we were staying at a hotel up on the northwest side of the city, so we were close to what is called “The Golden Triangle” in Washington. So we went and wandered around a little bit til we found something that looked good, we stumbled onto a small place called Luigi’s Famous, not sure how famous it really is since I have never heard of it. Although the whole famous thing is always interesting since it seems like so many places are “famous”, but that’s beside the point. We had a really nice meal, we split an appetizer of calamari and then shared Assaggini luigi – combination of the tortellini, agnolotti, & ravioli in three different sauces. These were just awesome and totally hit the spot after traveling all day, even though we had some tasty peanut butter and banana sandwiches for lunch on the train, this was really nice. The atmosphere was quaint and quiet for a real nice end to the evening.
Then the next night we were wandering around the city, and came up to the White House, took some pictures and then realized it was time for dinner, so what better way to find a place than to ask someone who’s local, and who’s more local than a cop, right? Turns out the cop isn’t local either, turns out he’s from MA and works down there for the Capitol Police and actually knows someone who also works with Kate up here in MA, who woulda thought, right? So brief moment talking with him and then he tells us about this nice little place down the street, The Old Ebbit Grill. We get there are just the right time and put our names in, 30 minute estimated wait time, that’s nothing from our point of view. Ten minutes later and we were hearing the hostess tell people it would be an hour or more for a table.
This place was really cool, you could tell it had been around a really long time, it had that old feeling to it where you know that some major people had been sitting in those seats way back when, concocting deals and bargains in the background of the political landscape of the city. One thing I really really liked was the atmosphere that was created by the restaurant still using the very old gas powered chandeliers and lights. We had some delicious calamari as an appetizer(can you tell our favorite appetizer yet?) and then I had grilled salmon and Kate had a jumbo lump crab cake. Both were terrific!
Funny thing while we were sitting and enjoying our dinner, I kept glancing at the table to our left on the other side of a support pillar trying to place why the guy I could see looked familier. Eventually, right at the end of the meal it hit me and I turned to him to say hello. The person I could see was Ben, and the guy I could not see was Bryan. Both of these guys were part of the team who runs the Red Sox Fantasy Baseball Camp that I went to this past February. They also work with the “get away” trips put on by the Red Sox, and are lucky enough to get to go on the trips themselves. They appeared to remember me, or if they didn’t they faked it really well.
So those were our early week meals, the mid week meals were all at the National’s Park. To be honest, the food at the park was pretty tasty. Although, with record crowds all 3 nights, the staff at the stands were definitely not ready for the demand of the crowds!! Major props for the burgers and fries from “Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries“, there’s that “famous” again!! There burgers were pricy, but they were worth it, so were their fries. The delivery method after ordering was interesting, but still better than some other places I have been.
Then came D’Acqua on Friday.
We decided we wanted seafood, and then searched for a place through Yelp to find the right place, menu looked good and we got ourselves all gussied up for a night out to dinner!
We had a reservation, but we were early and they seated us anyway right away, it wasn’t nearly as busy as we had expected for 7pm on a Friday night, I think Washington might start a little later than Boston. Also interesting, there was a small area near the end of the bar, closest to the kitchen, with fish and other seafood items laid out on ice, apparently you can pick a fish to be your dinner and they will cook it for you. We stuck to the menu in front of us.
We started off by ordering a salad and an appetizer of pan friend mozzarella. The mozzarella was delicious with the flaky crust it was in. The salad was interesting, they actually just left the romaine lettuce leaves whole, piled them on the plate, then draped the anchovies and dressing over it.
Then our meal came, Kate dined on Beef Tagliata with basil flavored mashed potato and mustard sauce, while I had the olive crusted roasted lamb rack with potato rosti, carmelized shallots and garlic.
Blown away is about the only way to describe the meal, presentation was interesting as well. When they brought my lamb out, it was still in the full rack on a cutting board with a garnished plate as well. They actually cut my lamb next to the table, and laid it out for me on the plate before putting it in front of me. A bit extreme from my point of view but bonus points for the style.
Really though, the food was delicious, it melted in your mouth and the flavors of the sides combined with the main dish to compliment one another perfectly.
We savored our meal as we ate it, and were so happy throughout the whole meal.
Then came dessert, we went for it because while delicious, our dinners were not the normal tons of food that fills you up like a gut busting chain in the local strip mall. Dessert was their Chocolate Mousse Cake, and it was delicious as well, and a perfect ending to one of the finest meals I have had in a very very very long time.
I still slightly salivate when I think about this meal…
Collapse of Epic Proportions; Redemption
Posted by nedster in Entertainment, Sports on 2009/07/01
It was a dark day already, with rain falling earlier in the day, as well as more forecast for the evening, but little did anyone know it was about to get a lot darker for the Boston Red Sox. Not since June 4, 1989 have the Red Sox seen such a collapse in a game as there was on June 30, 2009 against the Baltimore Orioles. After a one hour and ten minute rain delay, the Red Sox squandered a 10-1 lead and lost 11-10.
Let’s travel back in time to take a view of that game 20 years ago. It was a Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park and the Red Sox were playing the Toronto Blue Jays. Alex Sanchez was starting for the Jays and Mike Smithson for the Red Sox.
It started off gangbusters for the Red Sox, Smithson pitched 6 shutout innings allowing only 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 5 Toronto hitters, including George Bell twice. He was pulled from the game after giving up walks to the first 2 batters of the 7th inning.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox offense was abusing the pitching of Toronto that day. They chased Alex Sanchez from the game after recording only a single out in the first inning. Sanchez was pulled by Cito Gaston after giving up a walk to Carlos Quentin which came after the 3 Home Run by Ellis Burks. The Red Sox managed to score another 5 runs in following innings to make it a 10-0 game at the end of the 6th inning.
Then, the wheels completely came off the bus.
The first 2 runners for the Blue Jays reached base on walks, and Joe Morgan brings in Bob Stanley to keep the peace, but he allows both inherited runners to score before closing out the inning. Ok, not that bad, but then in the 8th inning Stanley gives up 4 more earned runs, bringing the Jays within striking range down by only 4 runs 10 to 6.
But it’s the 8th inning and the Red Sox have Lee Smith as a closer, a pitcher who will eventually be the all time leader in career saves at the time of his retirement, so why would anyone be worried?
It was not in the cards for them that day though, Smith would give up a a walk, followed by a double to score an inherited runner, then clutch strikeout to get the first out of the inning, only to walk the next batter and give up a grand slam home run to give the Blue Jays the lead in the top of the 9th inning, 11-10. Dennis Lamp then entered the game to get the final 2 outs of the inning, and he would be the last pitcher of the game for the Red Sox as well.
Nick Esasky would walk to lead off the bottom of the ninth for the Red Sox, and then you saw something that was completely un-Red Sox-like, Rich Gedman drops down a sacrifice bunt to advance Esasky to second. Bunting never was a strong suit of the Red Sox and it was rarely done except in the most dire of circumstances. Jody Reed then singled into right field allowing Esasky to score the tying run.
Small sighs could be heard all around, being the home team the Red Sox had the advantage now, even though they were 4-4 that year in extra inning games, people thought they could do it.
The inning ended and stranded Jody Reed at second base on a ground out by Marty Barrett against David Wells who was pitching in relief. After this inning it was a Double D Dual to see who would win the game, Dennis Lamp against Duane Ward.
The innings were quick after that, in the 10th the Sox got fans excited with another successful bunt after a lead off walk, this time by Ellis Burks, but Randy Kutcher was stranded at second by innings end.
Not til the top of the 12th inning did anyone score, it was a long home run hit to deep right-center field into the bleachers by Junior Felix, 13-11 which would be the final score of the game as Wade Boggs, Same Horn and Randy Kutcher would go down in order in the bottom of the 12th, Kutcher while watching strike 3 cross the plate on a 3-2 count…
Fortunately, games like these only come around every 20 years or so, and sometimes, just sometimes the victim of such a shocking loss can use it for motivation, to realize that no matter what the score of the game, no team is ever truly “out of it”.
In fact, just the next day, July 1, 2009 against the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox put up 4 runs in the top of the 9th inning to tie the game at 5, and eventually would go on to win the game 6-5 in 11 innings.
The save of this game was a moment to be noted though, not only was the save awarded to the same pitcher who had given up the game winning hit the night before, but it was also the save(133) that put Jonathan Papelbon alone at the top of the record books for most saves by a pitcher in a Red Sox uniform. The man he surpassed was Bob Stanley, a pitcher who was not only part of that dismal night 20 years earlier, but also spent his entire career in a Red Sox uniform. Hopefully Jonathan Papelbon will do the same.
Vacation, Vacation, Vacation!!
Posted by nedster in Entertainment, Food, Vacation on 2009/06/30
Aren’t vacations the most wonderful things ever? The separation from reality, the escape from the daily grind of work and home, the freedom to not be on a schedule. That last one may not always be true though, especially if you are on vacation with my mom or oldest sister where a plan and schedules seem like they are completely unavoidable under all circumstances.
I spent last week on vacation and it was wonderful, it was a trip down to Washington DC to see the Nation’s Capitol as well as watch the Red Sox play the Washington Nationals at National’s Park.
I went down with Kate for the week on time away from home that didn’t involve family for once, a truly unique experience!
We went down via the Acela Express instead of driving or flying. I personally love to travel by train, I find it relaxing and just a real nice way to travel. It cost a little bit more than flying, but there was so much less stress by not havingt to deal with getting in and out of Logan, Dulles, or Reagan. It takes about the same amount of time as driving, but no stress with traffic, you can sleep if you want, and you don’t need to pay an arm and a leg for parking once you are down there. Plus, who needs a car while in Washington? There is plenty to do with just a little walking and the Metro.
Overall the week was awesome, lots of photos were taken, many of which will be uploaded at some point soon, but I took about 3000 of them over the course of the week, so I need to trim down that number to a reasonable amount to upload, I have it down to just under 1000 right now, but I need to gleen a few more before I actually upload them.
Nat’s Park is beautiful and the city is overall beautiful as well. It’s been 15+ years since I was there on the St. Seb’s junior class trip to Washington. I didn’t see that much when there that time though, I think more time was spent playing Frisbee than anything else.
I love the buildings down there, just seeing their size and ominous presence makes you feel so small in comparison, and not just the Smithsonian buildings, but all the buildings are big. They take up full blocks with just 1 building instead of multiple buildings of different styles all crammed into a single block.
There is more, but I am gonna make those their own entries… I would suggest anyone goes back to Washington if it has been awhile, lots has changed and you may find you have a new appreciation for it.
FREE MUSIC!
Posted by nedster in Entertainment, Fun, Purchases on 2009/06/10
So when I bought my Bag of Crap from Woot, I got a whole bunch of Sansas in it. Then inside those Sansas I got a whole bunch of free music that was on them, since they were obviously not wiped prior to being fixed and re-distributed.
The list of the songs I got, minus any duplicates can be found here!
My Bimbos on Chairs Arrived!
Posted by nedster in Entertainment, Purchases on 2009/06/01
My BOC, aka Bag of Random Crap from woot.com arrived last Friday. I was excited and nervous while waiting for it cuz I wasn’t sure what I was going to end up with!
It arrived and the box was a little bigger than I was expecting, and then I found out why. It was a box inside a box, so I didn’t get the volume of crap I initially thought I was getting, but I can live with that.
So I opened her up and looked at it, the first thing that caught my eye was the Motorola Cell phone, a W215. It ranges from $45-65 according to the shopping searches that show up on Google. I am sure this would be great, but it is a GSM phone. I use Sprint, which is a CDMA network, not a GSM network so this phone is completely useless to me. I currently have it up for sale on Craigslist, but no action on it yet. If I were on AT&T or T-Mobile then I could probably use this phone.
Next item up, a Targus Accessory bag, or is it a toiletries bag? Really it could go either way! This looks to be a pretty nice little bag, it’s got a large inner pocket with a zipper, it measures about 10x4x4, it has a slim outer mesh zippered pocket, and then a small mesh bag with a draw string that you can put inside the larger pocket. I am trying to decide whether this should end up being a hard drives and computer stuff bag, or a toiletries bag. Since I don’t travel that much anymore, and with the regulations of the 1qt baggies for travel toiletries, I am thinking this will end up being a portable hard drive, MD player, and USB cord storage bag. I think Targus would want it that way. I haven’t been able to find this anywhere online for sale, but my guess is that it’s worth somewhere between $15-20.
Next thing I came accross were 2 Dragon Tree eggs. Apparently these little plants grow well and are fun little project. I will need to find someone to give the second one to, hopefully someone with a window. One has already been given to Kate for her new office with a window and the split level ceiling. The link above sells them for $5
Next up, the main stockpile of loot in the BOC. I had some Sansas, 8 of them actually. Now I had never really seen a Sansa before, I had heard about them and seen them on Woots before. My impression from all that was that they were just pieces of crap. This may or may not be the case, but the fact that I got 8 of them, with no packaging and just kind of pilled into the box made me wonder whether my impression was right or not, I was leaning towards being right. Although it is kind of exciting, these are technically the first actual MP3 players I have ever owned. While I have had devices which play MP3s, these are the only specifically made to play MP3 devices.
So the Sansas were of varying types and storage sizes. The first one I picked up I initially thought was just a memory stick, but I then realized that wasn’t the case. It’s a small 1GB Sansa that looks like a memory stick and plugs into the computer like a memory stick to charge and transfer songs. It has a very tiny monochrome LED screen and reminds me a little bit of an Ipod Shuffle.
The other 7 players look identical to one another, the only real differences are in the guts of them with their storage sizes. I recieved 3 2GB, 1 4GB, and 3 8GB players. As a bonus, since these were all refurbished, there is music on all of them. While I cannot say that I like all the music, there is plenty on there. I got about 500 songs between the 8 of them, some duplicates, some not. It is certainly an interesting mix to say the least. From Poison, to Dance Hall remixes of Abba’s Dancing Queen to Green Day to “Party like a Rockstar” by”I Set My Friends On Fire” to some jazz from Paul Hardcastle and Steve Tyrell.
Well, getting the Sansas was great, but they require a special cable to connect them to the USB port on the computer. I got 7 that require the cable. I got 1 cable in my box. I see a problem here. Not only is this cable required to connect them to the computer to transfer music, it’s also how they are charged! I’ve got Sansa Backup! I did discover that using the end plug from a Blackberry, I can plug them into a wall to charge them instead of having to have them connected to the computer, but that still doesn’t solve my 1 cord problem. Why can’t people just use a standard Mini-USB connector?
Now these almost all work.
One of the 2GB ones won’t hold a charge, so unless I have it plugged into the computer, it’s basically useless.
Then I have 2 others(4GB and 8GB) where the blue circle on the front is all that would work, it would light up and just sit there, nothing on the screen and no sound. BUMMER! However, me being the free thinking, curious individual I am said to myself, “Hey, these are made by Sandisk, what are the chances that sandisk just has one of their SD cards on the inside of this to store everything on? I could use that in one of my cameras or upgrade a 2GB to a 4 or an 8GB!”
Well, I was wrong. They don’t have an SD card on the inside, they use the same chips from inside an SD card, but they are hard wired to the circuit board of the player.
However, while I was poking around on the inside of the 4GB, what appeared to be the main chips appeared to be loose and not connected to the main circuit board, I wasn’t sure if I had done that while opening it or if it was like that when I opened it. So I gave it a little push to seat it back onto the connector and then put it all back together. Sure enough, the player now worked!!! YAY for fixing it!! So I did the same to the 8GB and it now works too, so I actually have a full 8 working Sansas. Now what to do with them?
There were some other things in the box as well, so don’t think the fun stops with the Sansas! I was fortunate enough to also get 4 sets of earbubs to go with the Sansas! AWESOME! I HATE EAR BUDS! So if anyone needs or wants any, they are black and you are welcome to them! Woot was also kind enough to send me 4 extra of the little foam ear bud coushin covers.
I also recieved a random USB cord, I initially assumed it was just a USB cord for another type of Sansa, but then when it was investigated more closely by Kate, it says Kodak on it. Wait, Kodak? As in the camera people? I have a Kodak Camera… and I don’t have a USB cord for it… No… no way it could be the right one… I need to check this out… wait… holy crap, it fits! It works! This random cord that I thought I had no use for actually works in connecting my camera to my computer via USB!! WHOA WOOT IS PSYCHIC!!
Then there is the cream of the crop for this package, I got myself a sweet ass package of Silica Gel, along with 6 twist ties, 5 packing peanuts, and 2 small bags of Texas Air. SWEETNESS!!
I was at first disappointed when I was reading about other people’s BOC that they got. I read about them before I got mine. Several people got Laptops, another person got a 65″ LCD TV that works, but has no stand(shucks?), or those imafanous Expresso machines that some people got. I may not drink Expresso, but that woulda been neat to get.
I do have some sympathy for people who got things like an empty Walgreens bag, empty box for a Dell PDA, cordless phones with no base, used blue tooth ear pieces(complete with ear debris left on them) or the one person who got over 700 “Brothers In Arms” action figures of ALL THE SAME FIGURE! Although they have donated them to Toys For Tots, but man, that’s alotta crap!
In the end I am happy, and I am going to experiment with RockBox on the Sansas to see how that goes compared to the default software that comes on them.
I look forward to the next Wootoff to try for another BoC, the $8 is worth the anticipation and fun!
I’m a Sucker For Woot
Posted by nedster in Entertainment, Purchases on 2009/05/19
I am a sucker when it comes to Woot.com, things are usually cheap and there are things I want on there way too often. My most recent suckering in was the Turbo Air Rechargeable Blower System by WD-40.
To be honest, I think this is going to be useful because I am sick and tired of buying canned air, and while I own an air compressor and such, it’s kind of a hassle every time I want to clean out a keyboard or the equipment in the livingroom or even out in the car cleaning up.
Also though, over the weekend prior to heading up to Vermont, I was successful in acquiring a Bag Of Crap from Woot and I am anxiously awaiting it’s arrival to see what I get in this fun and surprising package. There will be a post with pictures of all the fun stuff in the BoC when it arrives.
So I Setup and Tested the Wii
Posted by nedster in Entertainment, Fun, Opinion, Sports on 2009/05/19
Well, the Wii is definitely just as much fun as I have heard it is supposed to be. I got home last night, actually read the directions, and then setup my Wii in the livingroom.
My initial setup had the sensor put on the top of the TV, but then after I played with it a little bit I realized this was a poor placement for the sensor. I have my TV mounted above the mantle of my fireplace, and having the sensor on the top makes it a little tough to aim the controller and get a good reaction from it’s field of view. I moved it down and put it on my mantle and the action and responsiveness became much much better.
So I played each of the games in the Wii Sports once I had things setup.
First was bowling since it was the simplest. It was a little tricky the first couple throws, but then I started to get a hang of it. I scored a 132 my first game, and then a 143 my second game. I definitely have a slight hook to my throws, but the funny thing is that I have the same when I bowl for real. Easy to compensate for and even helped me a little for scoring to have the hook.
Next up… Tennis!
I didn’t explore all the options but I played 1 player tennis doubles. First match was just 1 game and I lost scoring only once. However, once I was done with that, I played a 3 game and a 5 game match and won 3-1 and 3-0 in those, so I think I have a handle on it.
Next up… Boxing!
This was fun, I only did 2 fights, but they were fun. I definitely move faster than the controllers can react, but it’s not too bad, the real trick was figuring out how to do different punches instead of just a jab. I won both fights by knock outs, one in the second round on the 2nd knock down(3rd overall) and one in the 3rd round(4th overall), I still don’t know how he got up so many times in those first two rounds.
Next up… Golf!
This was hard… I think it was probably harder for me because I play real golf than it would be for someone else. I played 3 holes(pars 4, 3, 5) and scored a 6, 5, and 6 respectively. It was fun but I also need more room for it to be a lot of fun.
Last up… Baseball!
Pitching was easy, but not til the end of the 3rd inning did I discover how to throw a curveball, and I know I need to read up a little more on what is what to get that down better. Hitting was a little weird because of the bat position, that may have been my fault though. Another quirk was fielding, that’s all automatic, and the fact that everyone in the field looks like a weeble is weird too, NO LEGS!! That game ended after 3 innings, with a score of 0-0. I almost hit a home run 3 times though, only to have it caught on the warning track.
Late Note/Edit: One thing that would make this a whole lot better to play would be having higher ceilings in my house, I think I only have a 7-7.5 foot ceiling, so it makes it pretty hard if I am playing tennis and go to swing with the overhand to slam it through to try to win the point.
I Am Pretty Excited About This
Posted by nedster in Entertainment, Fun on 2009/05/18
I decided to cash in a whole bunch of my frequent flyer miles when I discovered I could get some cool things like a Nintendo Wii!! So I cashed in 45,000 of them last week and put in my order for a Nintendo Wii with the Sports Pack, and it arrived to my office today.
I expect that my night tonight will be consumed with Wii setup and exploration of the games it comes with.
How Well Do You Know Movie Quotes?
Posted by nedster in Entertainment, Fun, Movies on 2008/03/03
Thanks to Lisa for this one…
1. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb (or Wikiquote or, heck, the movie) and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it correctly and the name of the movie.
5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb/Wikiquote search functions.
***********************************************************
Pretty sure I got some good ones in here….
1. Anything is peaceful from one thousand, three hundred and fifty-three feet.
2. Don’t you laugh at me. Now, I will not sit back and watch my only son become a cock-sucker.
3. Now you’re being rude, and I hate rude people.
4. Better get under cover, Sylvester. There’s a storm blowin’ up, a whopper. Just speakin’ the vernacular of the peasantry.
5. What is your malfunction, you fat barrel of monkey spunk?
6. Look at me. Please, look at me. I’ll wait for you. However long it takes. I’ll wait for you forever.
7. Chicks love that romantic crap.
8. There’s something out there waiting for us, and it ain’t no man. We’re all gonna die.
9. Fuck off with your sofa units and strine green stripe patterns, I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let… lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.
10. You know, Mr. Bernstein, if I hadn’t been very rich, I might have been a really great man.
11. How ’bout a ride, mister?
12. Eeewww, disgusting! You mean… *fluid transfer*?
13. We better keep an eye on this one. She’s tricky
14. Gladiators don’t make friends. If we’re ever matched in the arena together, I have to kill you
15. But when you get there tell my wife that two years in prison camp is roughly equivalent to four years of marriage and I’m glad to be free of them both.
But if you don’t want to try to figure them out and want to see the answers, you can find them here. There is a PASSWORD on it, but if you are sly you might just figure it out…