Summer in DC part I

Drove up to Baltimore to watch the Red Sox play. Yay, Jacoby!!















When Jihan was in town, we went to the US Air Guitar competition at the 9:30 Club. Evan really wanted to compete.















At Mount Vernon with Diana and Cynthia...















With Evan's dad and Darcy at the Imax theatre at the Natural History Museum.














Learning about Bhutan at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall.

Summer in DC part II

Visiting the (free) National Zoo. I love pandas!














Outside the Obama family's future home.
















Afternoon wine in the National Gallery sculpture garden.














A break after a bike ride to Roosevelt Island.















Drinks at Mr. Smith's in Georgetown.

New England tour

Nikki's parents came to visit in May. We drove up to Canada and had lunch on Campobello Island.































The following day, we took a boat out to Machias Seal Island to see puffins!


















Spent some time on Cape Cod where we saw the Mayflower replica and visited a cranberry bog. Biked around Nantucket and had lunch in Provincetown.

candlepin bowling!

Evan recently discovered candlepin bowling and now he can't get enough. It's a New England thing. Unlike regular bowling, each player uses three balls per frame, the balls are much smaller and do not have holes, the downed pins are not cleared away between balls during a player's turn, and the pins are thinner, and thus harder to knock down. It's kinda like skeeball!

Montreal part deux

Evan and I returned to Montreal a few weekends ago. To make up for our complete lack of French skills, we brought Annie and Jason too! Ate some fabulous food. They all enjoyed smoked meat and I ate my share of apple/brie crepes. Explored Vieux Montreal, did some thrift shopping, watched some hockey and played some pool. Good times.

Eastern States 20 Miler

Last weekend my buddies Jeff and Pat convinced me to run the "Eastern States 20 Mile Run," which goes from the Maine/New Hampshire border to the NH/Mass border. It was a beautiful course, all along the ocean, and there was still plenty of snow on the ground. Unfortunately, I have run a handful of times in the last month and can not claim any significant level of fitness. Like an idiot, I went out strong and kept it up for about half the race, after which point all manner of people began to pass me - old ladies, geesers with walkers, infants, you get the picture. Jeff and Pat both had good races (Jeff bettered his half-marathon time and Pat ran 7 miles more than he has before!). We celebrated with fried seafood, beer, and cheesburgers at a local lobster shack. Three days later, I can still barely walk, but we're already looking for the next race...






Pre-race













Shaka finish!














Done!















I feel great!














Hungry....










The reward!

St Patricks Day

My buddies Madhu and Bryan came out to Boston for St Patrick's Day, which was awesome! I think the energy/excitement of the weekend is pretty well displayed in our expressions below. We kicked things off with a Sam Adams brewery tour, did an unintentional walking tour of the bars of Roxbury/Jamaica Plain, went out by Faneuil Hall, and of course hit up the parade in Southie. The highlight of the weekend was seeing the Dropkick Murphys at the Paradise Club. I had to jump on a plane the next morning, so Madhu and Bryan saw me off with drinks in Harvard Square. The party continued in my absence and looks like they saw some good cultural stuff that I was too lazy to take them to. In the spirit of reciprocation, I imposed on Madhu/Bryan the next week in SF.