happy new year!

Happy new year, everybody! Now fill up your Britas. You'll thank me in the morning.

matteo is in town!

Mattie has finally made it to Boston. Oh wait, am I seeing double?

That's right, Ben is here too! Totally sweet.

go blue!

As Adam (a Michigan transplant) has notified me, there are two (TWO!) Wolverine-friendly bars in Boston: The Place and McFadden's. Shows you how much I know about the city, when newcomers tell you where to go.

stan going metero?

Some time ago, I got these shoes - sort of a hybrid between a shoe and a sneaker, made from black leather: comfortable, but formal enough to wear to work. Nice. I think I paid $60 or thereabout for the pair.

Then, I noticed the same shoes in a different color, white. Very nice. But, I figured that spending another $60 was a bit of an overkill.

Finally, I happened to be at the mall, and with all the after-Xmas crazy sales, I figured I'd see what kind of a discount I can get on the white pair.

I go to the register, and the shoes ring up at $14.99. Waaaaa?? When that happens, I don't ask questions - I go back and get more. So I got myself another pair, in black, to replace the slightly worn original one.

So now I have three pairs of identical shoes, and I'm a very happy man ;)

meeeeerry xmas!

Ahhh what a nice holiday... really! What's great about it is that everybody has forgotten the Christian undertones, and it's all about gifts and family. And I love both!

Susan came through with something that I wanted for a long time - pajamas! How did she know? Oh wait, maybe that's because she "permanently borrowed" the set that I had?

My parents gave me some sweet gifts in their own right - an OBD-II reader for my car, and a multimeter to help me fix things as I continue screwing around with the electronics. OK, so maybe they have received some suggestions beforehand...

But my brother really took the cake. He got me an official title for 1 sq. ft. of Scottish soil - so now I can add the title "Laird" to my name. Oh, imagine the possibilities... "I may not be a gentleman, but I guarantee that you'll get laird!" ;p

israel's got the right idea

Reading the news coming out of Gaza, I'm beginning to think that Israel is on to something here. When the Israelis pulled out, I was thinking, oh, that's a mistake, you can't show weakness here. But, as luck would have it, Palestinian factions seem to have forgotten about the whole holy war thing, and began to duke it out with each other. As Borat would put it, "great success".

Perhaps the US can try the same strategy: build a wall around Iraq and leave for a couple of months. The remaining Iraqis would probably be much more cooperative... both of them.

take that, kraut car!

This is awesome beyond belief, but only a Russian can appreciate it: somebody has turned a BMW into a Volga.

wa wa wee

Who knew - Borat speaks Hebrew!

hunting for the big game

Yes, Susan and I have been house-hunting for a lil' bit... we're not completely sure that we're gonna buy anything any time soon, but hey, doesn't hurt to look. It is pretty amazing how the market conditions are reflected in the prices - since we started looking, the houses are just not selling. They keep on dropping in price like they're going out of style. Two houses that actually looked very decent went down by $10,000 just last week.

It's always interesting to go to open houses and try to figure out who lived in the house, even if it is completely stripped of all furniture. Here's a nice old lady house - awww, and here is... well, this person must've been on crack. Anyway, people should just have open houses, even if they're not selling, just to get to know each other.

it never ends

The past few days have been filled with purposeful and never-ending activity. Susan went on a weekend trip to New York with her family, so I figured I'd take some time to myself to chill out. Well, not so much. Burren on Friday, late-nite Chinese card game on Saturday, and home chores for my parents on Sunday. Next, Susan comes back to find that the radiator in her car exploded. Fantastic.

crispy potatoes

A wise man once said, "A wise man knows his faults." Actually, I'm not sure if anybody has said that before, so I might be the first. The statement must be true, though, since I'm certainly aware of my shortcomings, and therefore wise. And wise men don't throw around statements that aren't true.

So anyhoo, a week or so ago, Susan couldn't find a place to store a sack of potatoes. In one of my wiser moments, I noted, "Hun, you know I'm gonna forget about that next time I have to use the oven..." Well, ten days later, we're enjoying a crisp aroma of burnt plastic, and I certainly feel very wise.

supreme idiocy

This is too good not to talk about: US states (with Massachusetts leading the charge) are suing a federal agency, EPA, to make it do its freakin job. The case before Supreme Court revolves around EPA's refusal to do anything about greenhouse gas emissions, since global warming is just a "scientific theory".

Oh yeah, kinda like evolution.

So, who's leading the charge to protect the disadvantaged big industry and the struggling SUV drivers? Scalia, of course, joined by Bush's plants, Alito and Roberts.

Uh.

good news

... And we're back to politics: Bolton is outta there!
What we don't know is whether this is a genuine admission of a failed strategy, or a sneaky way to cleanse the administration of the undesireables with a dual purpose:
- if things go well from here on, take credit for it;
- if things don't go well, blame the Democrats, since the administration is now *spotless*

wedding time!

Breaking news: I got married to Jared... and Sunny!

No, I kid, I kid. It was Kenny who was getting married to Laureen. Everybody saw it coming from a mile away, of course, when they met - the two are perfect for each other:

The wedding was very sweet and traditional. Kenny gave in on his lack of religious beliefs to have a church wedding, followed by a fun reception at a country club. Sue, of course, stole the spotlight by dressing as a stunning anti-bride (supposedly, not on purpose):

happy bday SUEEEE!

Sue turned has reached a venerable age of 25 yesterday - that's right, quarter century of kicking butt and looking good doing it!

To celebrate, we went to Wang's, an "authentic" Chinese restaurant that we wish we discovered back in Tufts days. Their dumplings are truly something else. Plus, it's BYOB (or BYO-red wine, as it was in our case).

Tomorrow is Kenny's wedding, so, indeed, it's quite an activity-filled weekend that we're having. Sweet!