It's My Turn

I begrudgingly take on this duty, firmly believing that the internet is full of enough vacuous thought that I don't need to add to it. But alas, the wife wants me to join the journal, so I'm in. If you take a moment to notice, I type with what I believe is proper punctuation and capitalization. I realize that this is uncool and I'm fine with it.

I have been on the road for a couple of weeks now. Boston was a lot of fun. The course was for all the partners promoted to my level this year - about 120 of us. Not bad given that firm is now 170,000 people. Not to dwell on work, but there was an interesting experience in there. I was pulled onstage (not randomly I hear) to participate in an interview. I was asked tough questions by Jon Sopel (think Dan Rather for the BBC) who has interviewed many world leaders. He clearly had me outgunned, but commented favorably on my responses. Kinda cool. I'm going to ask the people who lead the conference for the video. I'll share if I can track it down.

On the fun side, Boston Bob and I had a chance to catch up. There was a higher probability of me NOT making my flight. Kelly was correct to worry. My other best friend, Billy Moore, couldn't make it in town from Springfield, MA, and had he made it, I may not have left for a couple of days. One interesting note is that I'm suggestive when it comes to accents. By the end of the night in Southie, I was "packing my cah" with the best of them. There were a lot of comments going back and forth, most of which can't be written here. Needless to say the night ended with, Bob, you f-ing Mick, good to see yah. To which, he said, Nagel, you f-ing Kraut, good to see yah. He dumped me in a cab, and I somehow woke up in my hotel room.

On a quick side note, I busted a tooth in Boston. Bob pointed me to Tufts Dental School, and I quickly learned that their emergency room is for homeless people. They provide exactly two services 1) Pain killer; or, 2) extraction. Riiiiiight. I left and went to Cali where my brother hooked me up with a laid back dentist. He came in on Saturday just to see me and said that a few beers with Kris, my brother, would be sufficient for payment. He literally opened his practice on the way to the Stanford/Washington game. Like that happens on the East Coast.

So, one of my duties is to catch everyone up on the latest happenings.

Let's begin with dinner last night. We've been a bit geographically challenged this week - staying in Sonoma and dining/wining in Napa. Not a huge problem, but a pain. Last night, our commute to dinner was 11 stairs. Aaaah. We perused the menu, and to our relief, no tasting menu. We enjoy the variety, but it was high time for us to choose our dinner on our own. Coincidentally, we chose the exact same meal - creme of white asparagus with olive oil soup and the "rabbit rabbit rabbit" entree. I chose a nice Pinot Noir from Williamette Valley Oregon - Domaine Serene. Kelly keeps saying that choosing a wine from Oregon while in Cali is some sort of sacrilege. However, I don't get the sense that the Californians are insecure about it.

The soup was terrific and a nice surprise. I immediately wrote off the match to wine b/c what wine honestly goes with asparagus? It worked though. Good deal. The rabbit 3x referred to the three presentations - rack, sauteed, and confit. So sauteed with bacon - good. Confit - delish. Rack - huh? Has anyone honestly tried to eat a rack of rabbit? Think toothpicks in a strip of meat. Not really the best. Super meal with a super wine.

We followed the main courses with a cheese plate. Kelly stuck with wine, but I moved to a 1991 tawny port. I don't recall which one, but it went very well with the cheeses. We had cow, sheep and goat. My favorites always start with the blue cheese - Fourme d'Ambert. For those of you who think I'm gay now, I've been working hard on getting in fighting shape and will be happy to spar a few rounds so that you're opinion isn't changed.

So. I was going to continue with today, but I'm feeling blogged out. I will only return if users demand an encore. Otherwise, I'm out like a fat chick in dodgeball. (I can't claim that one as original, that's Kelly's).