So I have to say, this year's birthday party was a big success. After several years of throwing these, I think I've found the ideal format in regards to serving food. I don't know what wine theme I'll use next year, but the Tapas thing will be reused, only replacing Spanish food with whatever cuisine fits the theme ( Read more... )

As planned, I slept in until 9 on Saturday, then got up and went for a relatively short hike up Pleasant Mountain in Bridgton. 5 miles round trip, 1,600' of elevation gain - it wasn't much, but it counts, which was all I was after on Saturday. I've now gone hiking at least once in every month this year ( Read more... )

I've had a really good week so far, even though for some reason, it's been going by so slowly. By Wednesday, I was already wondering, "is it Friday yet?", only to realize that no, it's only Wednesday. Yesterday I was wondering the same thing, and this "don't keep thinking about it, Friday will never come" feeling set in, so that today, I keep ( Read more... )

Well, I'll let you be the judge. I'm posting two pictures of the same subject, shrunk to a reasonable "web" resolution, which should remove the massive size advantage of the 4x5" large format film version. One is shot with my Nikon D80, the other with my Cambo SCII-R large format monorail, with 2 year-old expired Fuji Velvia 50 sheet film ( Read more... )

My weekend started a little early, thanks to our head manager rewarding those who actually managed to get into work on Friday by dismissing us early, around 3:45 or so ( Read more... )

Brian sent me this, it's really really worth watching:

Click to view

Although I wasn't really affected, we had a pretty decent ice storm last night. Like 1/5 of the state is without power, including many neighborhoods in Portland ( Read more... )

I still need to hang the Katahdin picture (and a bunch of other ones, but not in this room). I also plan to build a wine rack that exactly fits the indent where the old fireplace was. The one I have there now looks a bit out of place. Plus, any excuse I can find to build new wineracks ( Read more... )

I'll have more, perhaps, once everything is organized and my dining room table arrives tomorrow. But, I thought I'd post a few anyway for those who were curious. I've put the pics below the cut for those who are not. ( Read more... )

Well, the move on Saturday went relatively smoothly, and thanks to a ton of help from some great friends, very quickly ( Read more... )