10,000 moments of bliss

~ m ~ Leave a comment

Two feet of snow as I flew into Chicago last weekend didn’t put a dent in the warmth of our weekend.

Here’s the timeline:

Highlights:

Thai couples massage

This technique made Cara and me feel even more bonded, if that’s possible. The giver gets as much as the receiver, always in a state of comfort and relaxation. We started with the receiver in traditional cat/cow of yoga, with – get this – the giver facing the sky, back to back with the receiver, and with every muscle completely relaxed. You become a weight to improve your partner’s relaxation and stretch. It just got better from there. Amazing baby, let’s do it again soon. 💘

Lyfe Kitchen

This is my favorite new trend – local food, prepped well, served with fast food convenience. B. Good in Raleigh is very similar. Cauliflower and brussel sprouts are our Chicago winter go-to.

Running around Chicago with Cara is always a dream. We were on the move, belly laughing and smiling like fools. Cara was determine to get me boots, as all I had were my canvas Keeps. I googled up some vegan kicks, and she found me the perfect pair on sale. Unreal.

Up close with 10,000 Maniacs

We saw 10,000 Maniacs at City Winery, a sweet little venue on some douche bag alley (endless bars and shops). I would put my best engineering assessment of my distance to Natalie Merchant’s pretty legs at 15 feet. She put the pretentious in their place right away, sharing that her first stop in Chicago was Goodwill to pick up the dress she was wearing. Nice choice! Check them out…

Ema

More dining fabulousness. The space was very open, yet totally romantic.

Isolation tank

Unbelievable. I’ll come back to this!

Amazing. Cara and I say it over and over: we’re so blessed and lucky.

Huge Day

~ m ~ Leave a comment
  • Funding for my project at Cisco cancelled, allegedly laid off, awaiting confirmation
  • Space X most incredible launch yet, complete success streamed live, hearts pounding
  • Benching 160, running 3 miles every day at gym over lunchtime
  • First Sun Basket arrives
  • Realizing I have come from pascal and tight variable reuse through object orientation thank you C++, global connectivity thank you internet, wearables on everyone, virtualization, pki and the potential for secure communication, complete agility overhaul, RESTful APIs and JSON die SOAP and XML, asychronous everything you crazy functional programmers, continuous integration thank you lord, containerization and I’m feeling stronger than ever. Next for me, robots. I swear it.
  • Chicago this weekend!

Music Stream Scream Cave

~ m ~ Leave a comment

Visiting Reiley last weekend was the straw that broke the pay-for-unlimited-streaming-music back.  We have AT&T unlimited data now, thank the good lord, and Google music is free for 3 months with my new phone, then $10/mo.  And the dam has broken.  The stream I just started was White Stripes Beck Cake Dandy Warhols Blur Beasties Weezer Smashing Pumpkins Violent Femmes Pixies back to back.  Easy listening.

On the other side of the coin is all the sweet sweet music of the streets of NYC on soundcloud.  Start with AnimalShow and step through their following list to more goodness.  Don’t miss Dave singing the blues, and Eli’s stuff it’s smart.

Animal Show is live and in the house

~ m ~ 1 Comment

Animal Show on Soundcloud

I finally got out for an Animal Show in NYC! Landed on Friday and found BKLYN House Hotel, our base of operations for the long weekend that included a Reiley move.

We met Al for lunch/dinner at Loving Hut, which I will always be grateful for.  Hi Al!  Great to meet you.  :-)

First night, Reiley took me out to Bruno’s bar, Cape House, and he took far too good of us. His favorite, Fernet-Branca, a very complex tasty digestif, left me feeling far too happy and DJ’ing until 4am. I regret some song choices.

Saturday started out with recovery – sleeping and Champs breakfast in the afternoon – well worth the 30 minute wait for takeout of scrambled tofu, seitan strips, vegan sausage, hash browns, and coffee, which when combined made a miracle.

Al got a bass string replacement at Johhny Albino Music Center, and we picked up a tuner for Rei too.

We were ready to walk to the gig. Al said we are NOT getting an uber that is NOT Animal Show, awesome oops my bad, rofl… Reiley held out for Julian to skateboard up, and a ride with Dave that we heard rumble up from a couple blocks away. Dave’s southern charm had us all at ease and instantly smiling. This gang is beautiful and thick as thieves, I have to say.

The show was beyond high expectations, the videos speak for themselves.  SO GOOD.

The Brooklyn Bazaar venue was crazy fun on multiple stories.  Lower level was a barcade with pool and sweet potato fries that Eli and I had been obsessing over (and they payed off).  Upstairs was the stage and dancehall.  Highlights included the passing of the pink cowboy hat from stage to crowd and eventually landing on my head for most of the night. My first green room experience was full of friendly folks and free water (no drinking for me thank you!) and plenty of free second hand smoke, heh. Met Andy and Dale and Jonathan the MC, lots of band members including introducing myself to headliner Brianna who politely gave me a warm hello, spun on her heel, stepped up two steps to the stage, and crushed the audience within a moment.  After the bands played, Jonathan and crew hosted a dance party, with Reiley and the other band members as judges.  Reiley called me out to join the dance party!  I again proved my cowardice.  Next time I’m all in.  Dave drove us home, what a gentleman, and I hit the sack at 2am while everyone else carried on.

Sunday started with vegan donuts at Dun-Well the vegan donut Mecca, as I watched the owner pour hand-brewed french presses one after the other into a huge tub from which we filled our silk-creamer-primed cups.

Monday morning allowed for another donut indulgence, you can never get enough and its a good thing I dont live close…. Then Reiley and I went shopping for some basics, and finished up with a game of Palace, before I headed to the airport. Wow!

Cara’s birthday in Washington D.C.

~ m ~ Leave a comment

Cara is so good at finding fantastic places to stay.  She found us the top story of a cute house in the best neighborhood in DC, just east of the Mall in Lincoln Park, an area full of cute tight houses of various flavors.  Ours was the second story of a fully appointed house – we had a stocked fridge and bikes to ride and everything else you could want.  Bike riding was definitely a highlight, we biked all around the Smithsonian and Capitol and White House (with middle fingers out) and African Museum and all the incredible sights packed together.

We saw a magic dual in “parlour” style at The Mayflower, a famous Hotel, and ate at Iron Gate, a romantic little swanky restaurant with an outdoor patio covered in lights and vines that made a custom vegan gourmet meal that was divine – i’ve never eaten chickpeas in the shell before, wonderfully steamed and spiced.

Weekends are ALWAYS so perfect with you, baby.  This one was somehow even better.