I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! It seems like people took the opportunity to spend time with close friends and family a little more seriously this year, and that's definitely a good thing. Personally, I spent the morning watching my old high school's upset victory2 over Massachusett's top-ranked team with Hilary and my brothers. The Hail Mary pass that they threw with three seconds left to break a tie and win the game was all that much more spectacular since Lonnie Hill, who is cousins with my best friend Terrence, caught the ball ten feet in front of us and fell into the end zone. The home crowd went crazy and stormed the field!
Following the game, I wiled away the next six or seven hours eating soups, appetizers, all the usual Thanksgiving fixings and (who could forget) dessert. The spread was legendary, as usual, with plenty of phenomenal home-cooked food for everyone. When it was all finished, we retreated to various beds, curled up in front of fireplaces and napped off some food. Not quite ready to call it a night, my sister and I joined Hilary and Erin for a few pints down the street at O'Neill's Pub. It was the perfect end to a great day.
Friday, November 23, 2001 @ 16:36 » 
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Ana is the best! She called me out of the blue yesterday to see what I was up to last night. Her intention was simple ... she wanted to give me an early birthday present, tickets to see Kool and the Gang3 at the B.B. King Blue Club & Grill4 in NYC!
We grabbed dinner at the ESPN Zone5 in Times Square and then wandered over to the club around 8.00p or so. It's a really cool place; I'm sure I'll be back again in the future (check out the schedule on their site ... they've got some great acts coming in). Kool did a special dedication of Cherish to everyone in the audience who had been affected by recent events in NYC and went on to play all their hits, from Joanna to Jungle Boogie, Hollywood Swinging to Ladies Night, Get Down On It to Too Hot. And yes, Mom, I showed Ana the moves I made up listening to Too Hot as a toddler (back when you and Dad were giving me such great taste in music). I had an amazing time and can't wait to get the other "half" of my present, whatever it might be (that's all she would say). 
Thank you, Ana!
Saturday, November 17, 2001 @ 04:13 » Comments
I love this time of year! I get to spend extra long periods of time home in MA for the holidays seeing friends and family, plus I get to start planning a few of my favorite annual events. The first one is a big Christmas ball on my parents' street. It's a black tie affair in an old historic ballroom6 (built in 1805). We're talking a real traditional ball, too, with Matrons, Ushers, a live band, a grand march and everything else you can imagine (including an open bar!). Since it looks like at least six couples will be joining me, we're going to have dinner at my parents' place before hand and then everyone's staying over afterwards. How much sleep we actually get after the ball is up for debate, of course.
Another big event I'm looking forward to is our annual trip to Mont Tremblant7 in Quebec. Gunner's usually responsible for a lot of the details, but then everyone gets their good friends together for the trip. This year will probably be our biggest yet, since it looks like we could have between 25 and 30 people make the trek to Canada. I don't have any pics up here from previous trips, but you'll have to take my word that our adventures there are legendary.
On top of all that good stuff, who can resist the incredible home-cooking that happens around the holidays? Family dinners are a big deal at my house and my parents cook almost every single night, but they put in a little extra effort at this time of year ... and both of them do an amazing job! Just ask any of my cousins about Mom's pecan tarts. I could go on and on about all the other reasons why this is such a great time of year (Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas, New Years), but then this entry would never end! Suffice it to say that I'm in a very happy place right now.
Monday, November 12, 2001 @ 20:37 » Comments
My brother Brendan recently had dinner with a good family friend, Fr. Phil Smith. He's the President of Providence College8, where Brendan is a freshman. Anyway, someone apparently asked Fr. Phil what his plans for Thanksgiving were and his reply was funny enough for me to post it here:
Well, I'll wake up in the morning and wait around for someone to call. When they don't, I'll head down to the Salvation Army. They really do offer good hot meals around noon. Then I figure I'll head back to my place, steam up the bathroom and doodle on the mirrors for a while. Afterward I'll rotate my shoelaces and I'm sure by then it'll be late enough to go to bed, plus I'll be so tired from a long day.
Friday, November 09, 2001 @ 18:36 » Comments
Alright, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that I just put up a massive new gallery of photos from recent trips to Massachusetts (as promised). The bad news is that my site may work a little funky for the next few days while I try to create a new look and feel. In other words, please pardon the appearance during construction. Thanks!
Thursday, November 08, 2001 @ 04:37 » Comments
Wow ... I can't believe how fast the last few days (weeks) have gone by. It's been both a lot of work and a lot of fun. On the work side of things, I contributed a major portion of time to my company's new public website9, which was formally released yesterday. They liked my site so much that some elements may look familiar to regular visitors. That being said, I'm improving on my site soon to stay ahead of the crowd (so keep an eye on it!). On the fun side of things, I've spent the last two weekends up in Boston, partying with a huge number of friends and relatives. Here are some of my favorite highlights:
- Partying at BC10 with my brother Steve and his g/f Mary;
- Hitting the Hong Kong in Faneuil Hall with a huge mix of Boston and CT people (coworkers, old classmates, friends and relatives);
- Catching the Head of the Charles11 with Hilary, Gunner, Casey, Phil, Alison, and the SLU12 crew;
- Shelley's event at the Anne Fontaine13 boutique in Boston;
- A Georgetown14/BC15 alumni get-together sponsored by Guinness16 (I drank my fair share!);
- Watching my brother and the rest of the PC17 rugby team kick URI's butt and then going to the team's toga party (well, Phil and I made it a fro-ga party ... afro + toga = fro-ga);
- Hitting the Salem Beer Works with fourteen of the coolest people I know (Hilary, her cousin Eulalie, and her friend Erin; Shelley, John, and Andy; Mark and Karen; Terrence and Heather; Phoebe and Jason; Phil and Ana);
- Halloween party-hopping with Phil (aka Disco Stu), Ana (aka Little Red Riding Ho ... I mean Hood) and Alison (aka Shooter);
Actually, there's plenty more that happened, but this is getting kinda long. Tell you what, though ... check back next week and I'll have pictures of everything put up. It'll be way more amusing than these bullet points. Especially all the pics of Alison passed out.
Saturday, November 03, 2001 @ 03:00 » Comments
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