Working with the Red Sox

I'm going to be helping the World Champion Boston Red Sox this evening, conducting some fan surveys before the game -- it's fun, you record everything in a handheld-PC that they've customized with little checkboxes for all of the questions. So look for me if you're going to the game.

And then I get to stay and watch the game! They're playing the Cleveland Indians.

They have a player named Coco Crisp.

'nuff said.

Norwegian Pop Sensation!

I bought the CD Anniemal today, by Norwegian pop sensation Annie. There's been a big buzz about her for a while and consequently I'd downloaded some mp3s last winter, but now her CD has been officially released in the U.S. All this limewire filesharing stuff actually makes me buy more music...

As if vindication for my Nordic purchase, as soon as I started driving home today, "Chewing Gum" came on ZBC radio.

Stylusmagazine.com has a big thumbs-up review of the CD, stating that it's a "human album." The sound of summer '05, I say.

Glad midsommar!

Today is the longest day of the year and is widely celebrated in Scandinavia, though midsommar is often celebrated on the closest Friday. Still, today is the real day! If I was in Sweden I'd be toasting aquavit with friends and staying up through the late sunset -- and the subsequent sunrise shortly thereafter.

I took the day off from work today -- I think I might make that annual trend. We went down to Horseneck Beach in Westport, MA. It took a while for the clouds to move out, but then it was bright sunshine, if not a little breezy!

So to all, swedish or not, "Glad Midsommar!" (Happy Mid-summer!)

Drive-by Red Sox

Our friends Polly and Chris were in town from Winnipeg, Canada and we all went to the Red Sox game on Saturday (their first shut-out loss, 2-0 to the Pirates). We lingered after the game so Polly's nephew Josh (from Sacramento) could browse the Red Sox shop. As we walked back to the bus, we stopped to give our support to the Red Sox driving off from the game. We got some waves and 'thumbs up's. Here's Johnny Damon giving an ambiguous hand gesture.

TSOOL tonight at TT's

The Soundtrack of Our Lives (TSOOL) will be playing two gigs in the Boston area tonight: first opening for flaxen locked Robert Plant at the Fleet Boston Pavilion and then a late night acoustic set over at TT the Bear's in Cambridge.



I've been a big fan since my days of living in Stockholm in the late '90s. I first saw the band at the '97 Stockholm Water Festival -- oh those Scandinavians! They've since made their mark in the states and have always put on a good show. And TTs is tiny, so it should be fun. I can then yell things out in Swedish to them.

Dashboard Confessional

I got a nice new Mac at work this past week, complete with Mac OS 10.4. I haven't had much time to explore it, but I absolutely love Dashboard -- which lets you customize all the little bits of info that you might want to check on the web (ie. weather, stocks) into funky little widgets that you can quickly check , like you can on the dashboard of your car, though the dashboard on my 1986 Audi is a little hard to read, as its light is failing...



My two favorites so far: Dashflix mini which keeps you apprised of your Netflix queue and RabbitRadio, which lets you tune in to your favorite NPR stations without monkeying around with iTunes or RealPlayer.

Paella!

We made a nice paella last night using my Dutch oven (courtesy of the folks at Cook's Illustrated). It's a keeper of a recipe (from the current May/June '05 issue). Our friends Carol and Steve came over and the fun evening is the center of the latest Carol & Steve Show: Episode 25 - Ravi, Sonia and Ortiz.



And we achieved 'Soccarat'! (kind of like the paella-version of enlightenment)