Ok, so I started looking at hotels and motels nearby. I need to know exactly when you guys want to arrive, etc. Robin, my brother, and I will probably get there on the 13th or 14th of July and then leave on the 17th. George, you said you were going to arrive a bit earlier. How much earlier? Ben, when did you want to be there? The wedding itself is on the 16th if I am not mistaken…

Most of the hotels near the convention center are booked up. There is a Best Western about 4 miles to the west (near the airport) that seems reasonable if we have a car or can figure out public transport. There is a Motel 6 about 6 miles to the SE. Not sure how cheap we want to go…

There’s also a Best Western about 2 miles north of the convention and 2 miles south of where the wedding will be. That would be great except that it is booked for the night of the 16th. We could probably do that one on the 13th, 14th, and 15th and then move to the other on the 16th which is near the airport anyway.

Also, did we all want to stay in the same room or just in the same place so we could carpool? Robin is thinking she doesn’t want to sleep in the same room as Ben and George. sorry guys.

So, Colin and Diana are getting married in San Diego mid July. I told my brother this last night and he got really excited since he wants to come down that weekend and attend the International Comic-Con which happens to be that same weekend.

Anyway, we need to figure out where to stay and I thought it would be handy if wedding guests stayed at the same place so we could all carpool everywhere. Who else is definitely going?

All the super bowl commercials are viewable here:

http://www.big-boys.com/articles/superbowl2005.html

I especially like the monkey ones (monkeys are always funny) and the “don’t judge” ones.

WOW. The winter wallop is here. My windows, which are below grade, are almost entirely covered with snow. In the past ~12 hours we’ve had over 20 inches of snow dumped on us, and it’s still coming! Hopefully Kate and I have enough food in the house to survive for a few days because we aren’t going anywhere…

Last night, we braved the early part of the blizzard to see “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou“. Anyone else seen this movie? It has all the elements of a Wes Anderson film – down and out lead character, quirky characters, unique sets (the cut-away of the Bellafonte is pretty cool), long-camera shots,little to no plot, etc… But in this one, the characters aren’t quite as loveable (Owen Wilson’s souther accent gets a little old), and the story just isn’t as engaging. I have to admit, it just wasn’t as fun as his other movies. Maybe my expectationts were too high… Curious to hear if anyone else has seen it…

Hey all. While I haven’t had time to write up anything about my time in Brazil, I have put some pictures up on my webpage: www.ben-schrag.com/brasil/. I’ll get a more comprehensive account up in the next week sometime.

Robin and I have resolved to watch Super Size Me once a week. It’s the Super Size Me diet, or rather deterrent to eating fast food.

If anyone is interested, my friends and I started a guild in World of Warcraft. It’s called Harsh Winter and we play on the Silver Hand server as Horde. We even have a discussion board!

http://www.transbuddha.com/alphamonkey/html/trevor.html

http://www.chrismahanukwanzakah.com/

I don’t know how things are going where you are, but around here lately, it’s been babies, babies, babies. Filghts from Logan are probably getting delayed with all of the stork traffic… Kate and I just spent a nice Thanksgiving in Duluth with my family, and got to spend a little quality time with my 4 month old nephew, Bergen. Over the past ~ 3 months, this kid has exploded from tiny peanut to massive baby. He’s cute as all heck. See:

After getting back, we had dinner with Kate’s siter and brother in law who annoucned that they are expecting! Last week, a family friend had a baby. Sunday night, my advisor/boss’s wife gave birth to their second child. Plus, two residents gave birth in the past few months, with two more staff members in my department expecting any week now. What?

Who’s next?

Hello fellow bloggers. I apologize for my lengthy absence. We’ve had a busy month, but mostly I didn’t have much I felt was blog-w0rthy in the aftermath of stupid John Kerry going down to defeat like Word Booty against the Reed Basketball Team.

So the company recently went to represent at the 2004 ISTFA in nearby Worcester, MA. It’s fun to go out and press the flesh, which is basically the point of bringing our microscope out there. This year the conference was held in the Worcester Centrum, a recognized name for anyone who watched much WWF growing up. And I shit you not, during our conference there was, yes that’s right, a MOTOCROSS going on in the other part of the venue. Guess who got more attendees? I was hoping to run into…
The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff!

But sadly no… So anyway now we are in the process of finishing up the new functionality of our product and writing literature, as well as an update of the website (not started yet). I’m also writing up a grant proposal to the NSF, which is always draining.

One interesting bit of news is that I’ll be in BRAZIL for the winter break! My first time there, so Yeung and I will be travelling all over the place as she shows me all the places she’s lived and studied since she was six. I’m hoping to avoid having to wear those Speedos all the Brazilians are so fond of. Not that I’m ashamed, I mean, it’s just…. So that will be sixteen days of fun from the 26th to January 11th. I am still waiting on my visa, which costs me $110 just because the US decided to put the same fee on Brazilians visiting here after 9/11, so Brazil reciprocated. That’s pretty weak on our part. I’ll make sure not to flip off anyone; I hear Brazil hates that.

Otherwise I’ve been playing basketball and City of Heroes, which Mark has already discussed. I’m trying to avoid getting WoW and I think I will be successful in staving it off, at least until after I return.

Melmack, I will be in Boston crazy early next Sunday. I might be too tired to think straight, but just wanted to let you know in case you wanted to get breakfast or something.