Creaking Tatters

Moving on up...

So the movers just came and got our stuff. Very professional, inventory and everything. Now we're sitting in our empty apartment, staring at the walls.

I made a big batch of chili the other day, so we would have something to eat these last few days. But then we let the movers take the microwave and all of our pots and pans. I'm not sure why we did that. I suppose we could eat the chili cold, but that's not very fun.

We'll probably spend New Year's Eve in Brooklyn, then head down to DC on the 1st. Denise has to work on Friday at her new job in DC. We'll be staying with our friends, Emet and Monica, for a week or so until we move into our apartment in Arlington. They have a dog, so I'll be spending that time playing with the dog, playing my guitar and watching TV. Life is hard.

Much music

Speaking of the White Stripes, I just bought the soundtrack to the much-anticipated (at least on my part), and Golden Globe nominated movie Cold Mountain. Jack White performs five songs, including great renditions of "Wayfaring Stranger" and "Sittin' On Top of the World."

Also picked up the new Cyndi Lauper album. She sings a bunch of old songs, from her memories of growing up in Queens. This is no "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." This is great, relaxing music, and really highlights the fact that the woman from Kew Gardens can sing.

The White Stripes

I really do love the White Stripes, they are just about the most rockinest thing in existence. But they really do need to be careful, if we're ever going to be treated to a fifth album.

After Meg broke her arm and Jack ripped up his finger this past summer, now Jack White is being accused of beating the crap out of some other musician.

For a real treat, you can actually watch a bunch of music videos and taped shows here at the Triple Tremelo site.

The young diplomat

Here's me at a young age, already working the phones, talking to other world leaders.

Carpets for sale

We've just got a few too many carpets, and it might be time to sell a few. If you're interested, check out the current sale items here.

Spies like us

Turns out they'll be issuing us all offical Maxwell Smart Shoe Phones.

Fes

As we prepare to move to DC I'm having to go through all sorts of stuff. Most of the pictures I took in Morocco during Peace Corps weren't good, but this is one of the few decent ones. At the Nejjarine Fountain in the old medina in Fes.

NY, NY

I'll miss this place.

Scotland Pictures

Ok, we've got some pictures of the Scotland trip up, finally. You can see them here.

21 Grams

Saw this movie "21 Grams" last night. Good stuff. Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro are excellent. Plot is a little confusing at first, but comes together in the end. Go see it.

Miserable Failure

It's amazing what you can do with technology. Go to Google. Type in "miserable failure", then click on the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Now how did they do that?

What we did in Scotland

So we really are going to try and get some pictures from Scotland up tonight, and then I'll link to them later. But just to give a quick idea of what we did in Scotland:

We drank whisky. Ok, I drank whisky. Denise stuck with the beer. I'm a whisky expert now, I even have a little certificate from the Scotch Whisky Heritage Center to prove it.

The most important thing to know is that it cannot be called Scotch unless it's whisky that is made in Scotland, from barley, and aged for at least three years in an oak cask. Anything else, and it's just whisky. A blended whisky can be made from different years, and is usually given an age representing the youngest whisky in the mix. A single malt, more popular in recent years, comes from one single distillery from the same year. Whisky ages in the cask, not the bottle, so that dusty 18 years old Glenfiddich you've got in the cellar? Drink it, it's not getting any better.

You can find out more about Scotch and see maps to all of the Scottish distilleriers at the website of the Scotch Whisky Association.

We actually took a little day trip and visited the distillery at Glenkinchie. It's definitely worth the trip. Our bus broke down on the way back, but after a few drams and a few ales, no big deal.

If you're staying in Edinburgh, certainly make time to visit the Edinburgh Castle. There's some good museum exhibits inside, including a museum of Scottish war history.

A nice walk with great views is up Arthur's Seat, a small peak overlooking Edinburgh.

And finally, what would a trip to the UK be without a night of drunken screaming at the telly in your local pub while your favority football team takes on the "cheatin' dirty bastards", as the locals referred to the opposing team. We learning all sorts of new curses and fight songs. Fun stuff. We watched a match between Celtic and Bayern Munich, a German team. Celtic is a Scottish team, but was originally made up of Irish immigrants, thus the name.

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes...

Well folks, the big news is that Denise and I will be moving down to DC soon, and I will start a new job in January.

The company that I've worked for the past three years, FIND/SVP, has been very good to me and it's been an incredible pleasure to work there. I have never worked with a smarter bunch of people in my life, and every day was a learning experience. If this opportunity had not come along, I probably would have stuck with this company for quite a while.

Let them sing

Before I forget, here's some real interesting technology. It's a database of songs that sings to you, sort of.