Monday, May 28, 2007
May 19, 2007 Another Saturday Night at the Compound
We begin this post with a nod to Tracy and Paul, proprietors of Grady's Pub. A clearly amazing couple . Look how cute they are! oh, pullllllllllllease ! !
In the photo below, you see L. to R. John, Rita, John and Kathleen. At least in the foreground. If you click on the photo to enlargen, and then look in the background, you will see Vinnie doing a blatantly intentional "Nicky-get-in-the-picture," a technique obviously made famous by my youngest brother Nick. It involves randomly appearing in the background of photos of other people.
John Rita John Kathleen Hey below is a good photo of MacGyver (Tails), i mean Steve, and Kat obviously deep in discussion.
AWWWWWWWWW look at the Jamester, the Jamerama, Jameserini, the Jamenator and of course Shan
below is Tails and Chuck. Tails is sporting his summer look and is clearly drinking whiskey. Apparently, I was unaware that I had a large amount of dryer lint fastened to the left side of my face. 
At one point in the evening, Rita and the boys from Clinton showed up without warning. Below, from left to right, it's Mark, Kevin, and John
In the photo below, you see L. to R. John, Rita, John and Kathleen. At least in the foreground. If you click on the photo to enlargen, and then look in the background, you will see Vinnie doing a blatantly intentional "Nicky-get-in-the-picture," a technique obviously made famous by my youngest brother Nick. It involves randomly appearing in the background of photos of other people.
John Rita John Kathleen 
AWWWWWWWWW look at the Jamester, the Jamerama, Jameserini, the Jamenator and of course Shan
below is Tails and Chuck. Tails is sporting his summer look and is clearly drinking whiskey. Apparently, I was unaware that I had a large amount of dryer lint fastened to the left side of my face. 
This is a special "antique" version of "paul and tracy in hats" by the reknown photographer "chuck" . Actually they were standing directly under a lightbulb in the ceiling, and it gave a yellow, old-fashioned tint to the photo. Tracy appears quite proud of that hat. Hey it does look cool on her !
Labels: Family
Thursday, May 17, 2007
May 17, 2007 Gary Rice
Hung out with Gary Rice today. Gary's an amazing bike guy. Case in point, he and his wife Chris own Cycle New England, a wicked amazing bike tour company that operates out of Sutton, Ma. So anyway, he's the bike guy, and I guess that makes me the hike guy. So, mr. bike and mr. hike went out today..........on bikes!
Gary's idea was to meet at the Lexington Battle Green and then ride up and down the Minuteman Bikeway. It really ruled. We rode from Lexington down to Alewife Station in Cambridge, and back. We were out for about 1 hour and 25 minutes. When we got back to the Lexington Battle Green, we took the photo up above, using the timer on the camera. The monument where we are standing marks the spot where the Revolutionary War started - the first skirmish on the Lexington green on April 19, 1775.
Then we went out to a great little place called Mario's Italian Restaurant right on Mass. Ave. in Lexington. I have to say there is a special enjoyment of lasagna and Amstel light after a long bike ride. This place was hilarious, too in that the service was ridiculously good. Plus, they encourage you to buy your own beer across the street and just bring it in and drink it, which is what we did. It's actually a BYOB restaurant. We got some chicken parm too.
Labels: Gary Rice
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
May 5, 2007 Arts FIRST at Harvard
Harvard held its annual Arts First festival May 3 - 6. I attended on Saturday, May 5. Things started off with this African-American Dance ensemble
Below is John Lithgow with the Harvard Band
These dancers were pretty good!
Below is the Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones, a mixed a cappella singing group.
The image below kind of looks like a mammalian circulatory system or even a scan of a neural network. In fact, it is the sky over Harvard yard. I was laying down on the ground, shooting straight up through the trees.
Below you can see the stage set up for a 3- piece rock band that started up near the end of the afternoon.
Below is John Lithgow with the Harvard Band
These dancers were pretty good!
Below is the Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones, a mixed a cappella singing group.
The image below kind of looks like a mammalian circulatory system or even a scan of a neural network. In fact, it is the sky over Harvard yard. I was laying down on the ground, shooting straight up through the trees.
Below you can see the stage set up for a 3- piece rock band that started up near the end of the afternoon. 
Labels: Harvard
Sunday, May 06, 2007
May 5, 2007 Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays
Actually, this is about Jeff Perrotti, the guy I'm with in this photo. On Saturday night, there was a large gathering in Boston of an organization known as the Greater Boston PFLAG, the acronym is for Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays. Jeff has been a pioneer in helping make Massachusetts high schools safe for lesbian and gay students. For his success, he and our mutual colleague Kim Westheimer were honored last night by several speakers, including Boston Mayor Menino and U.S. Congressman Barney Frank. When people say things like, "you know, we've come a long way...," you can rest assured that it was due to the efforts of people like Jeff that we have. But we still have a long way to go, too. Jeff is a TF, Tutor, and Advisor at Harvard, and has acted as a great mentor to me. Plus, he's cool.
Labels: Harvard
Thursday, May 03, 2007
May 2, 2007 Fiddling around with Fiddleheads
On Wednesday I went out for a classic hike around the Birch Hill area, especially on the Northeast side of the hill on the Milford/Hollis town line. By now, you can finally really tell that Spring has arrived. [I'm listening to Aerosmith's "Dude (looks like a lady)" right now as I post this blog, and I have to say that although I love Aerosmith and I've seen them several times over the years, this particular song, I think, is dumb, but anyway] The fiddleheads are out all over the place; below is a photo I took of a couple of them.
I like exploring new territory. I run into some pretty remote areas, where it's still all soaking wet and little ponds everywhere from all of the snow melt. I have to wear these gigantic Sorel boots to wade through all the water and mud out there, but I don't mind. Hey, below is a little remote beaver pond I ran into. They did a nice job on the impressive dam in the foreground. It is amazing that beavers are such...ahh...busy beavers. They alter their environments radically- to their liking. Hmmm. I thought we were the only species that did that.
Below is a really pretty apple orchard where I sometimes enter the woods. This was my entry spot on this hike. On the left side of this field below, along the treeline, you can see how it's kind of a path. I enter those woods up in the background of the photo below.
I saw this great blue heron (below) on another little pond. If you click on the photo below, you can see the heron, although it's a little out of focus or something.
I also saw on this hike loads and load of turtles, and ducks, geese, a variety of birds, and a fish. I guess it's official. Spring has actually finally sprung. And in my mind, this confirms it: Winter this year was time-shifted. I thought initially that winter was being cut short, because we didn't get a real snowstorm until mid February. In actuality, what has occured is that Winter was just as severe and long as usual, but the entire season was pushed back a month in time. Like, starting Jan 21 instead of Dec. 21. And ending April 21, instead of March 21. I wonder if it is just a fluke or if winter has permanently moved to a new time-slot?
I like exploring new territory. I run into some pretty remote areas, where it's still all soaking wet and little ponds everywhere from all of the snow melt. I have to wear these gigantic Sorel boots to wade through all the water and mud out there, but I don't mind. Hey, below is a little remote beaver pond I ran into. They did a nice job on the impressive dam in the foreground. It is amazing that beavers are such...ahh...busy beavers. They alter their environments radically- to their liking. Hmmm. I thought we were the only species that did that.
Below is a really pretty apple orchard where I sometimes enter the woods. This was my entry spot on this hike. On the left side of this field below, along the treeline, you can see how it's kind of a path. I enter those woods up in the background of the photo below.
I saw this great blue heron (below) on another little pond. If you click on the photo below, you can see the heron, although it's a little out of focus or something.
I also saw on this hike loads and load of turtles, and ducks, geese, a variety of birds, and a fish. I guess it's official. Spring has actually finally sprung. And in my mind, this confirms it: Winter this year was time-shifted. I thought initially that winter was being cut short, because we didn't get a real snowstorm until mid February. In actuality, what has occured is that Winter was just as severe and long as usual, but the entire season was pushed back a month in time. Like, starting Jan 21 instead of Dec. 21. And ending April 21, instead of March 21. I wonder if it is just a fluke or if winter has permanently moved to a new time-slot?Wednesday, May 02, 2007
April 28, 2007 the Kuumba Singers of Harvard College
omg on Saturday I went to see the Kuumba Singers with a bunch of people. People like miss Sandi and Dave and Marilou. Here's a photo of the trio -
Here's what the Kuumba Singers look like on stage:
Below is Katya and Ben, they met us in Cambridge, at Grendel's Den, and we went to the show together
I really liked these two in the front row holding hands.
What a great show of (mostly) African music! Plus we got to stop for a quick one at the Cambridge Queen's Head.....
Here's what the Kuumba Singers look like on stage: 
Below is Katya and Ben, they met us in Cambridge, at Grendel's Den, and we went to the show together
I really liked these two in the front row holding hands. 
What a great show of (mostly) African music! Plus we got to stop for a quick one at the Cambridge Queen's Head.....Labels: Harvard
