A photo from my iphone at the newport path station.

entrepreneurs. check out some of the work one of my old friends, richesh, has been working on for some time now.

movie update. so the last netflix movie we had was Barton Fink. not a movie for everyone, but may be of interest to anyone that has ever tried to reconcile art and industry.

on friday evening, we went out to see Rachel Getting Married. wow. incredibly well made and acted. not the sort of movie you want to watch if you're looking to be uplifted. but all the emotion in all its complexities came through very well.

election. voted this morning. my first time in a booth, other times have been absentee. i hope you voted too, and i hope you're just as excited about the results.

6 months. we celebrated our six month anniversary at Babbo, a mario batali restaurant. we each had the tasting menu which was great, with excellent wine pairings.

running. finished the half marathon, but not in style. from what i can tell, i need to stretch my iliotibial band. at mile 7, it started to hurt, at 10, it was all i could do to jog. by 11 i was walking, jogging, walking, jogging. a-, my parents, my sister, and some friends were all there to witness my slowest pace. but my dad encouraged me by jogging along with me for a quarter mile.

not to mention the course was brutal. the first 6 miles are almost all uphill. and who would have thought it would be in the mid 70s in october.

oh well, there's always next year. i think i may stay local for next year.

it's electric. JB was one of the guests on the galapagos trip a couple years back. he's still a pioneer in the electric car industry, and it's good to see such a nice guy doing well and getting the recognition. if only i had the money to by a roadster...

half marathon. the half marathon is in a couple weeks. training continues and is going pretty well. this year alicia and my parents coming to cheer me on, so hopefully i can finish and improve my time.

Busy summer. Sorry for the lack of posts. This summer has been a blur. A wedding in Iowa, a wedding in Baltimore, a trip to see friends in DC. This weekend has been at home relaxing and doing some necessary shopping. We now have some frames for wedding and honeymoon pictures. And a- will have boots for our camping trip with GOAL in sept.

I got the new iPhone and love it. It has change the way I view accessibility to data and how I can communicate with my friends.

instead of us welcoming sam and kristin to the city, they hosted us at their apartment on friday. an amazing 14th storey apartment with an L shaped balcony that has incredible views. the only bad part is they only have it for another six weeks.

soggy concert. alicia and i went with sam and kristin to see fiest play at prospect park. the concert was fun, although we had to endure a rain shower during the first act.

wedding pictures. the photographer has posted a slideshow with highlights from the pictures of the wedding and reception. there awesome. check em out.

married! so the wedding went really well, a couple minor mishaps, but despite the forecast for rain, the weather even turned out to be great. we spent the next 11 days in greece and turkey on our honeymoon. its been very hard going back to work after all this.

thanks to all who came to celebrate, and everyone else who has sent their best wishes our way. everyone was so generous we have to figure out how to fit everything in our new york apartment!

the knot. less then a week until we tie the knot! programs are printing; tuesday we pick up the dress and head to the in-laws; wednesday i pick up the tux; thursday is the rehearsal; friday we're married!

in case you haven't visited, our site has all you need to know for the big weekend!

a lecture to help you keep things in perspective. (thanks mum)

basketball anyone? i went to see the semifinals of the big east friday night. it was my first time in the garden and first ncaa basketball game(s). i got to see pitt win and georgetown beat west virginia. go pitt!

service. getting to dinner last night seemed like it was going to iffy. five minutes before we planned to leave, hurricane style weather moved in--massive downpour and horizontal rain. wind gusts that you could literally feel move the building.

but it all moved through in about 10 or 15 mins, at least enough that we felt safe getting into a car to cross the bridge. we then spent 3 hours enjoying not only incredible food, but a level of service rarely found these days. everything from the standard wine and water glass never reaching empty, to printing happy birthday at the top of menu and written in chocolate on my dessert plate. there was always someone there when you needed or were ready to order or ask for something--always--and not once were we interrupted or hurried along. the place, to me, had a 1920s feel, as if you were enjoying the spoils of your industrial revolution empire. even chef Humm came out to greet guests. yes, the executive chef that still physically runs his kitchen every night.

and then we took the subway home.

three-oh. yesterday marked my thirtieth birthday. went out for some drinks with friends last night at il posto and dba. today i got my birthday gift from alicia--a massage at a spa in the city. it was the first massage i've ever had, but certainly won't be my last. it was great.

tonight i continue my self indulgence with a dinner at 11 madison.

Verdi. We saw Otello last night at the met. This time we upgraded our seats to first row balcony. I have to admit that a Shakespearian based opera felt more familiar to me than did Die Walkure. Botha (Otello) and Flemming (Desdemona) both had amazing voices (go figure). But for overall experience, this show probably rates in the top two.

spacewalking. the international space station grows.

recent movies. since i know ryan loves to hear my movie reviews, i've got two tonight. the first is "the fountain", which we got via netflix. not recommended. it's about a medical researcher trying to find a cure for cancer in order to save his wife, set in three time periods.

we went to see juno in the theaters. this i would recommend. addresses a tough subject in a funny but still touching way. the writing is quick, witty, and the cleverest i've heard in a while. and we bought soundtrack. the lead actress was phenomenal; i expect to see her in more things in the future.

week in review. this was a long week. work is busy, and without going into the details, i'll be happy to get some time off when the wedding comes.

this weekend i unexpectedly was invited to the opera. alicia's great aunt gets tickets for her, her mom and her sister every year. megan couldn't make it this year as she was sabotaged by her students with a case of the flu. so, i took her place. the opera was wagner's Die Walkure. By far the longest opera i've seen to date, but still amazing to experience.

loss. i found out that the husband of a good friend of mine during college died of leukemia this week. i didn't know jared that well, but anne and i were pretty good friends during school. both were such good, unselfish people it seems so unfair.

he did keep a journal and i'm posting the link in the event someone else may find it helpful in dealing with a similar situation.

whisky tasting. since new years eve wasnt enough to kill my liver, i decided to host another whisky tasting with some good friends. my best man even came up from philly to join us, which was an awesome surprise and welcome addition to the group. in total there were 9 of us. and since i got proper whisky glasses for christmas, we did it in style.

there was no real theme here, just what was on my shelf as i try to keep a wide range just these sorts of gatherings.

in the order tasted:
arran, unchill filtered, NAS (no age statement)
auchentoshan triple wood
glenfiddich 12 year reserve
longmorn 15 year
glenmorangie 12 year port wood finish
johnnie walker green label, 15 year
highland park 18 year (mine is the new design)
ardbeg 10 year
bowmore darkest

In searching for links to the whiskies tasted, i stumbled across this article comparing some of the same whiskies we tasted. As for my guests, i think the overall winner was the highland park 18 (certainly my fave for the night), although we had votes for the bowmore, ardbeg, glenfiddich and auchentoshan.

Christmas photos. We're now back in brooklyn and tomorrow back to work. I got around to posting the pictures from the holidays in san diego. It was fun to see the excitement of the boys on Christmas day. I just wish I had that much energy.