Will

Happy VI day!

2008-11-23T03:02:19Z

http://www.zombietime.com/vi_day/

An idea whose time has come.

ninjalawyer @ 2008-07-07T14:18:00

2008-07-07T21:08:28Z

The holiday weekend was excellent. I put together a damn good 4 day/3 night bachelor party here in Boston for my old friend Bri-- I think rock stars would have been jealous. Some highlights included: lobster dinner at Durgin park on Thursday night, playing cards at the rooftop pooldeck at the Collonade, watching the fireworks on the Fourth from our boat on the Charles River, a round of drinks at the Top of the Hub, truly magnificent porterhouse steaks at Morton's on Saturday, fine port and cigars at Cigar Masters, and a rendezvous with a bachelorette party from my and Bri's hometown at a piano bar on Lansdowne Street.

I'll be posting pics soon!

And also, I bought my Garand! I spent a bit more than I'd originally planned, but I unquestionably got the pick of the litter. It's a Springfield Armory rifle, built sometime around August of 1944. Almost 64 years old, but still in gorgeous condition. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet-- maybe later on this week. I've already ordered some clips and a m1923 cartridge belt to go with it, and I'm hoping for a deal on a bayonet on ebay. I'll probably end up with a Korean War-era one, they seem to go for a third the price of a decent WWII example. I'll have to take a pic of the new toy, too!

Psychic Salespeople

2008-02-07T21:03:13Z

I just spent $150 on framed photographs for my office. There I was, typing away on a motion when a stranger poked her head into my office and introduced herself as "the art girl." Apparently she had sold some framed prints to our office a bit before I started here and was back with a new set. My walls are still mostly bare (I finally hung some diplomas and licenses recently), and I had done a bit of shopping for some pre-framed art prints last weekend, but I was picky and came back empty handed. The stuff the girl brought in looked good and matched the frames I was already using, so I picked up three of my favorites, all interesting shots of Boston landmarks. Score. Frees up some more of my uppcoming weekend. Next time I need some art, apparently all I need to do is think about it real hard :)

End of Year Odds and Ends

2007-12-25T05:00:34Z

The last few months have been as eventful as ever-- I won't bore folks with the details, but the new job is working out very well. I'm getting great experience, including the opportunity to do lots of trials, and having fun doing it. The only two problems are that it's tough to stay on top of the paperwork while I'm spending so much time in court and that the organizational system for the office is badly suited for the volume of appearances and appointments we handle. The solution to the first problem has been learning to utilize the support staff more efficiently, and the solution to the second will be to move our scheduling system to Outlook and set up a comprehensive Open Files database, which I intend to base off of the setup we used at my old office. On a side note, I can't believe I've been a practicing attorney for five years already...

I've been active on the local 40k tournament scene and done well, and even forayed into a WHFB team tournament a few weeks back. Fun stuff. I've also made it out to the range a few times lately, and have a lot future shoots scheduled with friends interested in trying shooting. Good times!

My car has been a magnet for trouble lately. I got hit by a rock on Route 24 that cracked my windshield, and then got into an accident a week later. While driving a rental while my ride was being worked on I hit a dishwasher or something that fell off a truck on I-95. When I got my car back, it still had a bunch of problems, some of which haven't been fixed yet-- and yesterday I noticed fresh damage on the part of the car that had just been fixed! What a pain.

My other source of technology woes has been the new PC I put together last month. The hardware all works fine out of the box, but Vista is the worst M$ OS I've had to deal with since Win98. I couldn't get anything to work with it, so I gave up and upgraded to XP. I'll probably redo it as a dual boot when I get the chance, since you need Vista to run the latest DirectX.

I took some time this month and sorted through my pictures from the last year and uploaded a few favorites on my homepage. Check 'em out.

Happy holidays everyone! Lea and I are throwing a party at our place for New Years, hope to see everyone there!

ninjalawyer @ 2007-07-21T20:00:00

2007-07-22T00:04:30Z

Damn you, lindyninja, for showing me Desktop Tower Defense... it's entirely too addictive.

Great Success!

2007-07-14T06:15:26Z

The big news this week is that lilbabylea is officially a licensed Pharmacist! She graduated in May, took the boards last Friday and on Tuesday, and got confirmation that she passed today. She'll find out her actual scores on the exams soon, but I'm pretty sure that they'll be off the charts :) She's now officially the Pharmacy Manager of the gorgous brand new CVS store on Route 9 in Newton, about the best possible position that the company could offer anyone. She kicks ass all over the place and CVS knows it :)

Now that Lea knows where she'll be working we've started planning to buy our first house. We're not in any big rush for a few reasons: we've got a sweet deal right now here in Dorchester, we're okay on space since Lea's not pregnant yet, we could use some extra time to square away our finances, plus the market doesn't seem to have bottomed out yet around here. But we are keeping an eye out, and if we see the right place for the right price we may end up moving on it sooner than we expect. Someplace in Milton, Canton, or Quincy would probably be ideal so that we can stay close to Lea's family for free babysitting and it would keep our commutes reasonable. We're also considering splitting a two-family with Lea's sister and her husband, we'll have to see if the timing works out.

She's Made a Dot Rat Outta Me...

2006-05-30T19:25:35Z

In other news... Lea and I have decided to move down to Dorchester at the end of June. Her family owns the place and it's in a nice area around the corner from the church Lea and I got married in. We don't know how long we'll be down there, but it'll be a great way to save some money. The only catch is that it needs some work before we can move in, so we'll be having some folks over all day this coming Saturday to strip wallpaper and prep for painting (which we hope to do the weekend after). There will be pizza and beer for those who can make it out.

Btw, I added my schools to my user profile... neat feature. Still waiting for my last Elementary School to be approved.

Memorial Day Weekend '06

2006-05-30T18:18:10Z

Friday night we met up with lindyninja and kickindancer, bunkai_man and katesg7, derbyhat and Stephanie to watch Xmen3 in Boston. Randomly, Matt ended up sitting right in front of us. It was fun, about on par with the second Xmen movie-- great visuals, a couple great one-liners, and the story held my interest. Movies like this are great for watching while cleaning guns-- put them on, follow the dialogue, and look up from what you're doing when a good action sequence comes on.

Saturday morning Lea and I drove out to our friend Dan's place near Poughkeepsie, NY for his graduation party-- he just finished up his Masters in English. It was relaxing-- the high point was an intense game of whiffle ball. We took off around 9pm and drove into the city, where we planned to stay for the weekend. Our friend Sara was unfortunately out of town for the weekend, but she left the key to her place with my buddy Derik, so we picked it up from his place and crashed at her place in the Lower East Side.

On Sunday we drove back uptown (parking in NYC was pretty easy because of the long weekend) and met up with Dave and Andrea for lunch at the Carnegie Deli. The place lived up to its reputation-- I got a 6 inch plus tall pile of Roast Beef on top of a slice of Rye with another slice balanced on top (their idea of a sandwich). We all walked around the Times Square area for a little while and then headed back to Sara's place so Lea could do her homework. We had a quiet dinner together at a nearby Sushi place and then walked over to the Strand, my favorite bookstore on the planet. After they closed up we caught a late show of the Da Vinci code, which was entertaining... it was a pretty good adaptation, although it edited out a lot of the more interesting parts of the book. I should re-read it one of these days.

Monday morning we met up with Derik and his friend Theresa for lunch and did some shopping-- Lea picked up a new pair of Pumas she'd been looking for and I finally bought a pocket-sized digital camera, a Canon Powershot SD450. I've been a big fan of the Canon cameras since I was selling them back in school, and playing with new one has confirmed my opinion. The camera was cheaper than pretty much any of the cameras I used to sell back 5 years ago, more compact, and much faster between shots than even the high-end cameras were back then. The movie mode lasts 8-45 minutes per gig of memory compared to 30-45 seconds, so it may even be useful. It has a huge screen, and retains an optical viewfinder, which is a big plus for when the glare prevents use of the LCD. Unbelievable. We got on the road around 2:30 and made it back to Worcester in time to catch Jamie and Melanie's BBQ. Zack brought a few gallons of home brew with him and we had some fun "touch" football out back. Great time.

I Was Deliberately Wasting Your Time, Sir.

2006-05-02T01:06:25Z

Ugh. Today was rough at work... The bunch of NYC morons I spent all week last week chasing for documents seemed genuinely surprised that they screwed up the deal I've been working on by giving us the info we needed 72 hours late. I spent all day trying to salvage things, and expect to look like a complete idiot when the house of cards I spent all day today building falls apart again tomorrow morning. Dealing with these jokers has reminded me of Monthy Python's Cheese Shop sketch... it's sad that I can't end this whole charade by shooting them.

The day's bright spot was an unexpected call from sharpshootah, who I'd barely talked to in the past year. The rush you get after talking with a friend you hadn't spoken to in a long time as though nothing at all has changed has to be one of the best feelings in the world. Hopefully I'll be getting together with her later in the week to catch up. The whole episode makes me want to get back in touch with a dozen people I've lost track of in the last couple years-- Mike A., Rachel F., Yogi and Liz, Andy and Lily, and others... I'll have to sort through my Palm address list this weekend and get on the phone. If you're reading this and we haven't hung out in a while, give me a call... I've actually got free time again these days.

3 Random Quotes of the day

2005-07-24T01:55:55Z

1. "You can't make a muppet out of D20." -angryfederalist
2. "I would have no qualms licking any part of this weapon. Oh wait... there's a bit of lint on the firing pin." - zack
3. "I'm Swedish and Irish. That's why I work so hard for so little." --Kris

Leafest '05 Venue Change

2005-05-13T03:10:32Z

btw, if anyone's coming out for Lea's birthday tomorrow night and hasn't already heard, we're meeting up at 7:00 at the Brown Sugar Cafe (the one at 1033 Commonwealth Avenue) instead of P.F. Chang's. Hope to see you guys there!

Dead to the World Infodump

2004-12-05T01:51:55Z

The last few weeks have been insanely busy. I've been consistently working 60 hour weeks at the new job and I feel like I've completely lost touch with everyone and everything other than Lea.

That's not completely true... I did get to spend some time with Bri and Alan while they were in town for Thanksgiving, and got to relax a bit that weekend. I definitely needed that. Unfortunately, things don't seem likely to calm down any time soon, either. I'm strangely resigned to this. Despite the stress I've been enjoying the work and I've been learning even more about the practice of law than I thought expected to. It's not the hours themselves that bother me, it's just the growing sense of isolation. I need to get out more and make better use of my ever-diminishing down time.

Random stuff... My computer has been in pieces for a couple weeks now. I took it apart to do some upgrades and pack it into a Micro-ATX case, but I couldn't get the damn thing to work. Seems like another defective Motherboard, but it could be a mistake on my part. Tonight I'll take one last stab at getting it to run before putting my old box back together... Does anyone have any suggestions on good Micro-ATX MBs?

Lea and I have our wedding album mostly together now. We're about to order the last of the stuff we need to finish it, plus what we'll need to do our parents' albums. My Dad is scanning in the photos for us, so hopefully I'll be able to add more to the ones up on the webpage soon...

Good Times

2004-09-23T22:25:11Z

Lots of good news this week.

Last Saturday Lea and I attended Shavenyak and katesg7's wedding and had a great time. The ceremony was at a gorgeous old church in Winchester and the reception at the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, both excellent choices, and a good time was had by all. The wedding was early, so they threw an afterparty at Jillian's that night. It was fun to continue celebrating the wedding wearing normal clothes and doing normal going-out stuff. A nice change of pace after all of the weddings we've been to these last few months. I'm sure that Shavenyak and Katie will be very happy together.

It was also good to meet Rob's old college friends at his bachelor party the Thursday prior to the wedding, they seemed like a great bunch of guys. I missed the day's early activities and met up with them at Fire and Ice in Harvard Sq. (which, by the way, is freaking heaven for Atkins dieters) and then we played a few hours of 4 on 4 HALO capture the flag. I think I'm getting addicted. I may have to pick up an Xbox when HALO 2 comes out.

Speaking of getting to like new games, last night I won my first no-limit texas hold 'em tournament! I was playing pretty well and I had some good luck early on. Those early wins built up my stack to the point where I was able to survive an expensive beat by Zack toward the middle of the game and recover. When it was down to the last three players I went all in on an AJ before the flop. Paul, the chip leader, called me (I forget with what) and got clobbered when two more Jacks came up. From there on it was smooth sailing. It's been a few weeks since I've played well, and I'm usually one of the first ones to go when we have these tournaments. It was especially satisfying to take Paul's money :)

Also speaking of games I like, I'm putting together my first Car Wars game in ten years (Division 15 at the Cloverleaf). If you're interested in playing, email me with your availability.

Lea and I are talking about going down to visit DC over Columbus day weekend. She's never been, so we'll probably hit the touristy places and visit some old friends of mine. If you're in the metro DC area and want to hang out while I'm down there, let me know.

I've been sending out my resume lately, and I had two interviews this week, both of which went very well. The one I had on Tuesday is a real estate closing gig, the one I had today is for an associate spot at a small general practice firm. Both seem like great places to work. The closing job seems like it would involve minimal actual legal work, but the second seems like a good place to develop my skills. The interview was unusual-- after a few minutes chatting in his office, the owner took me out with him for an hour while he ran some errands. He did most of the talking. He pretty much told me his life story and outlined why he was looking for an associate and what qualities he felt were important. It was actually pretty fun. We got along well and he invited me back for a second interview with his office manager on Monday. It sounds like if that goes well the job is mine. It's pretty much what I've been looking for for the last year, so if the money's right I'll take it. Hopefully the money is good enough that I can replace my car, since the firm is up on the North Shore.

All in all it's been a kick-ass week. Life is good.

Sniped!

2004-08-26T14:12:26Z

Poker was a lot of fun last night. I played better than I have in a long time and came out pretty far ahead. My buddy Zack showed up late and drunk-- he played a few hands, ordered some Chinese food, and then passed out on the couch about halfway into the night. Just before we all went home, our mutual friend Matt swiped the fortune cookie he had left uneaten. It read: "You and your wife will be happy in your life together." Now Matt is a bachelor, but Zack is getting married NEXT WEEK. It looks like that rat bastard Matt sniped Zack on that fortune and made off with the happy life that Zack and Kristina were destined for. If things go badly for them, we know who to blame.

Dieting, Demotion, Sun Burn, and Car Wars...

2004-08-23T20:25:37Z

On the way to B's wedding a couple weeks ago I decided to try the Atkins diet, based primarily on the success a number of my friends had had with it. When Lea and I got back, I spent the week in phase I of the diet-- eating all of the carbs in our kitchen :) A week ago, when they were all gone, I started induction (limitation of 20g carbs/day for 2 weeks). It's been going pretty well. I don't think I've managed to keep my consumption quite at 20g (it's hard to keep count when you're eating out as much as I've been), but I've come reasonably close. I haven't been militant about monitoring my weight, but I've definitely been making significant progress. Atkins is a great first step for me because of the nature of the rules-- if you break them, the diet doesn't work and you're even worse off than you would have been without it. It helps you maintain discipline that way, which I hope to apply to an exercise regime as I ease off of Atkins. Rob pretty much sold me on a gym in the area, and I suspect that I'll be joining there soon.

Zack and Kristina's wedding is coming up quick, and then Rob and Katie's soon after. I notice that I'm steadily getting demoted-- first I'm the groom, then best man man at the next one, then an usher at the one after that, then a regular guest... if this keeps up I'll be washing dishes in the backroom if I get invited at all :)

On Thursday I saw I, Robot with derbyhat and Rob (much better than it looked in the previews-- classic Will Smith, and just enough juicy Asimov bits to satisfy). Friday I caught AVP with lindyninja (worth watching for the background info it gave on the Aliens and Predators, but otherwise mediocre) and then met up with lilbabylea and kickindancer back at home. Saturday I was able to clean the place up and take care of tons of errands, and then Lea and I met up with B and Amy again for a round of "The Newlyweds' Game" (Lea and I won) and then some Wiz-war. Sunday I shot a round of sporting clays with angryfederalist and Zack, then went to Rachelle's pool party. It was good to see Matt and Rachelle, Anna, and Glyn. Like every other weekend I spent any significant time in the sun, I burned. Apparently I burn pretty easily, but the burns are always very mild and go away in a day or two. Lea and I met up to do some quick shopping after the party and scored some cheap books and neat toys, then had dinner with my folks.

Robert reminded me that I need to put together some people for a game of Car Wars sometime soon. Any of you mob ever play?

ninjalawyer @ 2004-08-10T23:50:00

2004-08-11T03:55:00Z

lilbabylea and I spent last weekend in Connecticut attending lindyninja and kickindancer's wedding. It was well-planned, ran smoothly, and a lot of fun for everyone who attended.

The ceremony and reception were held in Connecticut as a compromise between the New Jersey and Massachusetts contingents, so it was a couple hours' drive for us. We got an early start, but managed to forget a few things on our way out the door (shaving gear, toothpaste, and directions). Fortunately I remembered my camera's memory card, which is better than I did for the bachelor party paintball fest last Saturday.

The drive down went pretty smoothly. We stopped for lunch at a KFC/Taco Bell near my parent's house and I picked up a "Mega Jug" of Dr. Pepper for the road. Literally half a gallon of soda for $1.59. This thing had a carry handle molded directly onto it (since a handle on the cover couldn't have supported the weight) and was wide enough at the base to be stable on the floor of the car-- which was good, because this thing won't fit into any cupholder known to man. You come to appreciate stuff like this after spending time in France, where a 33cL bottle of Coke costs 4 Euro. That mega-jug makes me proud to be an American.

We had a bit of a scare when we showed up at the hotel when they told us that they'd lost our reservation, but we were able to get another room without too much trouble. Once we dropped off our bags we headed out for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. It didn't take long to work out the details of the ceremony and to learn our parts, so the rehearsal was pretty much in and out. The dinner was a buffet at a nearby restaurant. Amy's family was fun to meet, they seemed like very nice people, and it was good to see Brendan's family again. Both fathers made short speeches, but Matt and I (as co-bestmen) opted not to, since we were both still working on our speeches for the reception. We'd both been putting off the task of writing them for weeks, worried that we'd be competing with one another. We talked about the speeches a bit and then put off writing them for that night.

No writing happened that night. We all headed back to the hotel room and split off into a couple small groups to hang out and play some games. Matt, salt_peanuts, lindyninja and muggleslayer, joined me for some wiz-war (the set I bought on E-Bay arrived shortly before we left Massachusetts) and had a great time. It was particularly good to catch up with Matt and muggleslayer, neither of whom I get to see often enough. We resisted the temptation to hang out all night and went to sleep pretty early, in my case ostensibly to get up early so I could work on the speech. That didn't happen, either.

That morning I had time to scratch out a rough outline of what I wanted to say, but that was about it. The morning was mostly spent running around and sorting out last-minute confusion (like borrowing Aaron's shaving gear). I did however, fulfill my most important duty, getting the groom where he needed to be on time, presentable, and sober. Not that B really needed my assistance on any of those three fronts, since he usually has a big edge on me in all three categories-- since I'm chronically late and B's straight-edge, presentability is the only one where there's any contest...

I'll leave it to the bride and groom to post the details of the ceremony if they choose to, but it was elegant and went exceptionally smoothly. Brendan and Amy both looked extremely comfortable and collected throughout the ceremony. I was close enough to hear the earnestness with which they made their vows, and I'd never seen Amy look so beautiful.

After the ceremony we paused for a few outdoors pictures and then made our entrance to the reception. B and Amy had their first dance immediately afterwards, and they looked like they were having the time of their lives while showing off their swing dancing skills.

After they took their seats it was my turn to make the toast. I still didn't have anything meaningful down on paper, so I winged it. It went over pretty well. I probably referred to myself and Lea a bit too much, but I kept it on message. Matt spoke next and did an excellent job. After B and Amy's fathers gave their toasts we all sat down. Matt and I were able to relax and enjoy the party now that we had finally completed all of our duties.

The rest of the day went pleasantly and easily. We chatted with old friends and new, danced swing and foxtrot, and helped out where we could. At one point I came up behind katesg7 while she was sitting at our table and kissed her on the top of the head, thinking it was Lea. It may be a while before I live that one down... Most of the guests filtered out of the place fairly early to drive back to New Jersey or Massachusetts, so the last couple hours were mostly just hanging out with the guys, which was a nice way to wind things down. In the end we helped break things down and square the newlyweds away, said our good-byes and then we all went our separate ways.

It was a wonderful wedding and a terrific weekend. Thank you, B and Amy, for showing us such a wonderful time. I couldn't he happier for you two and I couldn't be prouder to be there as Best Man.

ninjalawyer @ 2004-07-18T09:10:00

2004-07-18T13:29:49Z

Well, it's 9:00 on Sunday and I'm awake, but not blasting clay pigeons like I'd hoped to be. I'm at work, pulling in some sweet overtime pay, but not terribly happy about it. Speaking as an economist, I must be happy about it, since I'm here, but that doesn't really help much.

I'm particularly unhappy about this since I was up until 4 last night watching the complete Firefly series on DVD (who needs TWO rem cycles anyway?). I can't rave enough about this series. It's not what I'd call hard sci-fi, but has a bit of the flavor of Pitch Black/Chronicles of Riddick. If Han Solo ever had his own TV show, the plots would be a lot like the ones on Firefly. The constant stream of details just ooze flavor, and the characters are the most compelling of any sci fi series I've seen yet. Two thumbs way the hell up.

The place should be together in its final form by the end of the week. The new furniture Lea and I ordered from Crate and Barrel arrives Thursday, and a print I dropped off for framing should be done on Tuesday. Yesterday B and I managed to get my couch out of the old place in Newton in about 15 minutes, about half of what it took the professional delivery guys to shoehorn it in. Tougher than it sounds since the place in Newton was an old Victorian with narrow staircases. The pros left half-inch gouges in the walls to prove that the couch was the exact largest object that would fit up and down those stairs :) That leaves a new end table and a nightstand for Lea and we'll be pretty much all set.

Moving and the Week in Review

2004-07-12T14:16:41Z

The move went without a hitch last weekend. Smoothest move I've ever done, despite the staggering piles of stuff we had to haul. Lots of practice, I suppose, and good help. Many thanks to lindyninja, kickindancer, salt_peanuts, Nick, and Glyn for all they did. The new place is coming together pretty nicely and I think Lea and I will be happy staying there for the next few years.

We spent the fourth over at Rob and katesg7's place in Winchester, had a great time.

The week at work was fairly boring, although the project may be ending sooner than I thought, so I need to get back into serious job-hunting mode. Not fun. EDIT: Turns out to be just a rumor. Looks like my job will be safe until January. I'll still need to get my hunt going, but it won't be as urgent as I'd feared.

Last weekend was pretty busy, too. Aside from the move-related errands we played kickball with lindyninja and company on Saturday afternoon and then went to P.F. Chang's and the Top of the Hub with Ashley, an old friend of mine, and her husband. We hadn't seen each other in about four years and have both been bad about staying in touch, so it was great to re-connect. I should really make an effort to catch up with other folks I've been only nominally in touch with for the last few years.

Wedding Pictures Are Up!!!

2004-06-28T06:24:55Z

We still haven't seen the professional shots, but photos have been trickling in from everyone who came-- I've already got hundreds! I finally had time this weekend to put a few of my favorites up on my homepage The page is a couple megs, so it might take a minute to load depending on your connection.

Honeymoon Pictures

2004-06-15T06:38:42Z

Pics and a write-up of our honeymoon in Paris are now up on my website. It's around 2 megs, so it may take a minute to load.

ninjalawyer + lilbabylea

2004-06-10T08:20:15Z

The last few weeks have been the best of my life thus far, and it's clear that things will only continue to get better. It's late and I should go to bed, but I'm not tired. This will be my only opportunity to sit down and record my thoughts for a few days, and this post is already a week and a half overdue.

On Saturday, May 29, 2004, Lea and I were married at St. Gregory's in Dorchester.

Saying things like that still sound funny to my ears, but I'm slowly getting used to it. Whenever I think about it I find myself looking at the ring and laughing... It’s hard to believe that the wedding has already come and gone. Even though we’ve been preparing for over a year now, it didn’t seem real to me until halfway into the rehearsal the day before, and afterwards nothing seems any different.

Everything went amazingly well.

I spent most of the week beforehand working and going about my business as usual. I took that Friday, the day of the rehearsal off. My best man, Bri came up from DC with his girlfriend, Erin, and I picked them up to meet my good friend Alan (who had recently arrived from LA) for lunch. It was like old times. We ran our pre-wedding errands and ran out to the church for the rehearsal, where we met up with the rest of the wedding party. The rehearsal went smoothly and we all headed out to meet our out of town guests at the rehearsal dinner, which my father was hosting at a room at Gourmelli’s in downtown Boston. The place has an amazingly good buffet, which allowed us a lot of flexibility. The crowd was an interesting mix... most of them were either friends associated with the wedding party or my Dad's side of the family (which all lives out of town), but there were representatives from every branch of both of our families. My dad, Bri, and myself all got up to say a few words, and Bri did a particularly good job. Lea went to her parent's house for the night and I had a few drinks back at my place with the guys (and some Tekken with Alan). All in all it was a great time and I went to sleep wondering how the wedding could top a night like that.

The next morning I woke up feeling nervous about the wedding for the first time. It wasn't that I was having second thoughts or awed by the significance of the whole thing so much as I realized how much work had gone into the day and didn't want to screw anything up! I met up with my groomsmen at Lea's Uncle Tony's place to prep for the ceremony, and things came together pretty smoothly, aside from two wrong-colored handkerchiefs that we replaced without much trouble. I passed out some nice Kershaw folding knives to thank my groomsmen, but it really wasn't enough for all the work they did to hold things together for me. Things were a bit more chaotic on Lea's end, apparently, with rampaging toddlers on the loose at her parent's house. In any event, we both made it to the church at our designated times.

The place looked fantastic. It's a pretty church to begin with, and with the flowers and decorations up it left a big impression on our guests (very few of whom were churchy types). Bri did his best to keep me occupied while the groomsmen seated our guests, but when the music started my composure started slipping. The music was just overwhelmingly beautiful and I was as emotionally charged as one can be. I tried pulling myself back together, but as I watched my parents walk down the aisle together I was just awed by the beauty of everything-- my parent's obvious love for each other, my gratitude for all that they'd done for me throughout my life and this day in particular, the majesty of the ceremony itself, and my joy in marrying Lea, the girl that I love... It was all too much to bear.

I was able to get myself back together long enough to follow Bri out to my place at the altar, but when the wedding party came down the aisle I started feeling overwhelmed again. This time I was thinking about the friends in my life, around forty of whom were with me then and there to witness the most important day of my life and share my joy. It was unreal.

When Lea and her father made their way to the altar it took every ounce of discipline I could muster to stay on my feet. Lea looked amazing, and her father's face just radiated love for her and pride. The slow march and ceremony of their procession only amplified the feelings welling up inside me. I can only imagine the faces I made while I tried to hold back my tears.

The ceremony itself was a blur. We knelt and faced the altar while Lea's brother, Nick, and cousin, Lea, did readings. Father Ryan gave a sermon from one of the gospels and told a touching story about a couple he'd known. Although I'd had some reservations about the religious ceremony, I now see why Lea wanted Father Ryan to perform the ceremony. His voice was strong, his presence was comforting, and his sense of humor was calming. By the time he had Lea and I face each other, I felt somewhat composed, although that didn't last long into our exchange of vows. I'm not sure how Lea managed to get the ring on my finger, but I doubt that I'll ever get the thing off :) I suspect a conspiracy between her and the girl at the jewelry store to get me into a ring one size too small... The one mistake in the ceremony was that there was no kiss at the end. I'm not sure if we missed our cue or if Father Ryan never gave one, but we were starting down the aisle before I realized.

I made good on that debt later :)

After going through the receiving line, we did some posed photos and then headed for the hotel, making a few stops on the way. Most importantly we stopped at Lea's aunt's house to visit her grandmother, who was unable to attend. We had a few photos taken at the Christian Science Center and then rejoined the wedding party at a waiting room adjacent to the reception hall. We hung out, relaxed a bit, and drank some champagne until the cocktail hour ended and the reception began.

Upon making our grand entrance, Lea and I had our first dance together to Sinatra's "The Way You Look Tonight." All I can say is that the lessons paid off, and we looked good. Our foxtrot style is strong!

The reception was the kind of party you only get to throw once in a lifetime. Lea and I spent a lot of time going from table to table, greeting everyone at the 23 tables. We took our time with it and had a lot of fun. Our families and friends are all great people, and it was a pleasure to see every single one of them. Lea and I are both proud to join each others' families. As we went around it was particularly gratifying to see everyone having such a good time. The seating chart worked out well, the food was perfect, the music was fun ("DJ Spinelli" played lots of old school hip hop towards the end of the night), and it seemed like everyone got up and danced. For our going away dance, the DJ played the Muppet show Theme song, which people got a kick out of.

At the end of the night Lea and I found ourselves surrounded by dozens of friends, each of whom came up to thank us for inviting them before they left. I did my best to thank all of them for coming. No one in the world has more sincere, caring, loyal, and interesting friends than Lea and I, and the wedding really drove that point home. I hope to see a lot more of everyone this summer.

I'm still putting together the pictures, which will go up on the web page soon. Until then, here's one my Dad took of Lea and I finishing up our first dance:

New Place and Other Goings-On

2004-05-21T21:07:38Z

About one week until the wedding and things are going smoothly. I've posted some info online for those of you who'll be attending (and also a registry for those of you who feel like buying me stuff ;) ). The planning is finished except for a few tiny details, and we're as ready as we're going to be. A lot of folks have emailed me asking if I'm nervous, which caught me a bit by surprise since I'm not at all. I'm ready for this and eager to spend the rest of my life with lilbabylea. I've known that we would marry since before we even started dating. We're so perfect for each other, and so deeply in love, that nothing could come more naturally.

On Monday Lea and I signed a lease for an apartment in Arlington. I hate giving up our place in Newton, but it seems appropriate to get a place all to ourselves once we're married. It's cheap, reasonably sized, fairly modern, convenient to public transportation, and has a nice balcony. Moving out of Newton is going to be a real pain, though... Lea and I have accumulated a LOT of stuff since last March.

We're hosting a small, low-key get-together tonight. Feel free to stop by if you're around. It's been a crazy month and next week will be even crazier, so it'll be nice to take a night off and just relax with friends.

It's the Little Differences...

2004-04-19T01:57:00Z

Lea and I tend to have similar outlooks on things, so it always catches me by surprise when our perspectives differ dramatically. The other day we were going through the RSVPs for the wedding with my family and read gonzolawyer and waitingforoct's kind note. I mentioned to my father that they were another lawyer/pharmacist couple, and he suggested that they might have useful advice for us, and asked "how far along they were" compared to us. I started to answer that Dave has his own practice in Arizona and that Jess had her license and is practicing as well, so they were about 3 or 4 years ahead of us... but before I even open my mouth, though, Lea explains that they recently had reasonbaby, their first child... It occurred to me that Lea's answer could best be paraphrased "They're winning by one."

Good News And Another Kick-Ass Weekend

2004-03-29T05:04:45Z

Things have been going well for Lea and I, even though we've been insanely busy. On Friday I was offered a long term and rather high-paying temp job, so I dropped the assignment I'd been on for the past three weeks. The agency that got me the first job wasn't particularly happy about it, but there wasn't much I could do. I'm starting the new gig on Monday morning. The job should last nearly a year and the extra money will put us on track to pay off our credit card debt even earlier than we'd previously hoped. I'll celebrate by having my FN FAL built early.

Planning for the wedding is in the final stages, and everything is going smoothly. On Saturday Lea had her bridal shower, which I'm told came off great. Our wedding registry is nearly tapped out now, looks like we'll have to add more before the wedding! Thanks to everyone who helped bury us in gifts :) During the week I hashed out the plan for my bachelor party in Montreal with my friends, one more thing to look forward to...

While the shower was going on I attended the BU Liberty Conference, which seemed to be modeled after an IHS Seminar. Randy Barnett, a law professor whose work I've always admired was there along with three other lecturers, all of whom were quite interesting. I barely beat Lea home in time to finish stuffing our wedding invitations with Kim and Gina, two of Lea's bridesmaids.

That night we had a bunch of friends meet up at our place for a few drinks and then went out to Axis. It ended up being more of a couple's thing than we'd intended-- lindyninja and kickindancer, Dave and Andrea, Matt and Rachelle, and Graham came out. Oddly enough, all four couples consisted of one Jew and one Catholic... a bit of a funny coincidence. The music was on the lame side this week, but it was free to get in and we had a great time. We ended up leaving a bit early to hit IHOP-- nothing like breakfast food after I night out dancing. Getting up in the morning for Lea's grandfather's birthday brunch was a bit painful because we'd been out so late, but today was pretty relaxing.

The only two down notes of this weekend have been mechanical failures. Our dryer broke, and my PC's power supply appears to have finally kicked the bucket. Anyone have any recommendations for replacements? This is like the fourth high end AnTec I've killed in the last two years and I'm ready to try something different.

Congratulations, Spain. You've Elected a Moron.

2004-03-15T17:47:06Z

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the new PM-elect of Spain: "It is clear that using force is not the answer to resolving the conflict with terrorists".

Apparently capitulation is the answer.

Is Europe really that far gone? I mean, not even the American left would say something that asinine. I feel an essay coming on...