lebanese dinner

Went to dinner with my team tonight at a Lebanese restaurant called Lebanese Taverna in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It was a new flavor for me... don't really know what I was expecting. The food was good, I had a very good Greek beer called Almaza, and had my first ever "hot" cheesecake... different.

tulane (again)

Business Stop(s): Tulane University

Mode(s) of transportation: Continental Airlines, rental car (Cadillac STS - yeah, the bad ass one, rented by BHurrle)

Eats: Tulane faculty/staff dining hall (HA!), Acme Oysters

Memorable Moment(s): 6:40 am flight, snow on the ground in Cleveland, Acme Oysters (and Abita Amber Ale)

This was my second time eating at Acme Oysters in the French Quarter (last time was with Megan in 2002 or 2003, when we were staying at the Iberville Suites and Acme was just down the block) and I must recommend it. It's a very low-key, casual spot with New Orleans fare, much of it fried. Got a recommendation from our server, Justin, to order the fried catfish and fried shrimp, along with the charbroiled oyster appetizer... good stuff.

the second second birthday party weekend

Last weekend, we had the second second birthday party for Tyler. Had several friends come over with their kids for a playdate. Tyler had a ball... He seems to love company once he gets used to all the people. So, Saturday morning was spent cleaning and readying the house and then the party, then a little R&R for the remainder of the day.

Sunday, Megan and I went shopping while Tyler played with Oma and we all had dinner together.

patriots - jets reminding me...

Just finished watching the Jets narrowly beat the Patriots 34-31 in overtime (Thank God for Thursday night football!)... now, I'll be honest, I don't really care about either of these teams, but this game reminded me of why football can be awesome, even when you don't care about either team. The final two minutes of regulation were nail-bitingly exciting (a tip-of-toes touchdown catch by Randy Moss!) leading into overtime. I think I should make a concerted effort to watch at least the last two minutes of every single televised football game... but I probably won't.

back to the STL

Business Stop(s): A.T. Still University, St. Louis University

Mode(s) of transportation: Northwest Airlines, rental car (Toyota Rav-4 rented by BHurrle)

Eats: J.F. Sanfilippo's, PB&J

Memorable Moment(s): America's Hometown, Kirksville "family photo," boarding flights 10 minutes before departure

Flew into St. Louis Monday afternoon and had dinner at J.F. Sanfilippo's, which was all right... I feel like the quality of the service and food was no better than a Carabba's or a Macaroni Grille, but it was not bad. Tuesday, BHurrle and I drove 3 hours up to Kirksville, MO (through Hannibal, which is Mark Twain's birthplace and is labelled "America's Hometown..." so, this is where America was born and raised up to be a precocious little punk and then, finally, grew up, moved to New York, got some fashion, taste, open-mindedness and sensibility and eventually aspire to greatness through the election of Barack Obama!). In Kirksville, we saw a terribly hilarious series of stickers on the back of a minivan that begged to have a picture taken... so, here is that picture (coming soon).

We presented to the School of Health Management at A.T. Still University and then drove 3 hours back to STL. On Wednesday, we presented to St. Louis University's Graduate School, then I flew back to Baltimore. Had a layover at the Detroit airport, where I ate a Peanut Butter, Honey and Banana sandwich at a place called PB&J... I've always wanted to try it out and this was my chance. I definitely enjoyed the PBH&B, so I'll be going back next time I'm in DTW.

missing a special day

So, call it poor planning or foolish justification-ing, but I ended up traveling on Tyler's second birthday and I'm sad not to be with him. I did get to sing Happy Birthday to him on the phone this morning, but it's just not the same. So... Tyler, I love you... I'll never miss another birthday.

potus obama

Honestly, I've never stayed up glued to election results before... but, this one was all-consumingly important. I actually entertained the possibility of fleeing the country if McCain won; only because I need to feel like our great country is on the right track. So, this year, I watched... CNN mostly... hoping, praying for an Obama victory. When 11pm rolled around and the blue states filled the screen and McCain was on TV conceding the election (something we haven't seen on election night in a long long time) and CNN (along with all the other even more biased networks) called it for Obama, I sat watching his first speech as our President-Elect and I cried a little. In fact, Megan woke up and heard me sniffling and asked if I was crying... "Yep," I said. I was moved... moved to tears, but also moved to action, moved to hope, moved in the right direction for the first time in 8 long years. So, YIPPEE! A democrat back in office... a young guy with new ideas, fresh ideas, and the force of a democratically-controlled Congress! I'm energized and excited for the next 4 years. This is the first time I've ever thought, We should go to the Inauguration... We live 18 miles away, it's not only historic, it's what WE wanted. We should go! I'm thinking it now!

So, I immediately taught Tyler the all-important answer when I ask him "Who's your president?" And he says "Obama." Nice.

un-American?

Just finished watching an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. John Legend was on the panel and, on the topic of the Republican rhetoric and criticisms of Barack Obama, he pointed out that, if you think about it, all of the rhetoric against Obama has been in an effort to "question" his American-ness. Connie Shultz brought up a statement by William Sloan Coffin who often answered his critics who questioned his patriotism by saying that the true patriot is one who maintains "a lover's quarrel" with his country. This made me think about my own views of being a patriot and my own views of my country. So, here's my attempt at profundity: Is America the best country on Earth? Yes. Is it the best country it can be? No. Color THAT my lover's quarrel with my country.

William Sloan Coffin also said "The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love."

in-blog-uration

I am starting this blog to chronicle my (and my family's) travels... mostly so that I will remember them, but also to share sights to see, places to eat, things to avoid, etc.

I started a new job in 2008 with a company called Hobsons and this job allows me to travel a bit around the country for meetings and presentations, so I'm going on a bunch of short "hops," so this blog will sometimes outline what I experienced in an hour of free time and sometimes will outline more than that. (Not all of the trips are / will be business-related.) I hope it is an enjoyable read (and I hope to include pictures and links and whatnots).

(I'll be backdating many of my posts so that we have chronological consistency. You can jump to my first trip with Hobsons by clicking here or to the first trip I can ever remember by... coming soon...)

ruston, louisiana

Business Stop(s): Louisiana Tech

Mode(s) of transportation: Continental Airlines, rental car (big ol' black truck, made me feel right at home in the south!)

Eats: awesome local seafood "shack"

Memorable Moment(s): really just the meal

virginia tech

Business Stop(s): Virginia Tech MBA

Mode(s) of Transportation: Rental Car (Dodge Avenger again)

Eats: local "college-town" joint

Memorable Moment(s): My FIRST "good" demo of Connect

This was my first on-site demo with Shulsey, who is really cool! (anecdotal note from the future: Shulsey is no longer with the company and I'm a little sad about that... hope she's doing well out there!)

chicago - detroit

Business stop(s): University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, University of Michigan - Dearborn

Mode(s) of transportation: Southwest Airlines, Northwest Airlines, rental car

Eats: Hard Rock Cafe - Detroit (check it off the list)

Memorable Moment(s): My FIRST multi-leg flight, my FIRST demo of Connect

Flew from Baltimore to Chicago at 8:45 am (crossing into Central Time Zone) for my first demo of the Connect CRM for UC-GSB (flew in plain clothes, changed into suit in the airport bathroom, changed back into plain clothes in airport bathroom). Flew from Chicago to Detroit at 6pm (crossing back into Eastern Time Zone), went to Hard Rock for dinner, then to hotel in Dearborn. Met up with Katie and Dianne the next morning for a demo at UM-Dearborn (I was mostly there to shadow Dianne and demo one small piece of our suite of solutions). Flew from Detroit to Baltimore at 5pm. Exhausting trip! Anecdotal note (from the future): my demo at UC-GSB was TERRIBLE; UC-GSB ended up buying our products!

wvu and upenn

Business Stop(s): West Virginia University and University of Pennsylvania

Mode(s) of transportation: Rental Car (Dodge Avenger) - not bad.

Eats: Ugh... fast food everywhere, nothing to speak of.

Memorable Moment(s): 2am arrival followed by 8am meet-up

This was perhaps the stupidest (call it naivete in the new job) road trip for me to take. I left the house at 8am on the 17th, drove 4 hours to Morgantown, WV for an AY demonstration at WVU. Got back on the road around 4:30, drove to Owings Mills, MD to attend a rehearsal of Pippin, which I was directing (I arrived late, around 8:30; rehearsal ended at 10... I was not useful!). Then, left Owings Mills to drive 2.5 hours to Philadelphia... got to the hotel just before 2am (traffic, can you believe it?!). Had to get up at 7 to meet my colleagues at 8 for a presentation at 9. Back on the road around noon to drive to Silver Spring to pick up magic tricks for Pippin, then back to Laurel to drop off the car and finally got home around 7pm. Never again... I swear it!

north carolina

Business Stop(s): Wake Forest University, University of North Carolina-Greensboro

Eats: the Village Tavern

Memorable Moment(s): I had a local brew with dinner and I happened to tell my colleague, Brian C. that it tasted a little "beer-y" and now that has become my signature phrase.

Went on this trip to shadow my boss on a demo at Wake Forest and do my FIRST demo (this one of ApplyYourself) for UNC - Greensboro. For dinner, we took the advice of one of our prospective clients at Wake and went to a local hotspot called the Village Tavern. I had their Maple Cured Pork Chops, which were just as impressive as the server made it sound.

first trip to cincinnati

Hobsons is based in Cincinnati Ohio, so I took my first trip out there for a monthly meeting, orientation and some training.

Since this was my first time ever to Cincinnati, I thought it best to use the time wisely to experience Cincinnati. So, I have an uncle and aunt who live in Cinci and I've never met them, so before my trip I got in contact and arranged a meeting. They suggested we eat dinner at the famous Cincinnati hotspot Montgomery Inn (apparently the best barbecued ribs on Earth and I cannot contradict that).


On Tuesday evening, I went to dinner at Skyline Chili (another Cinci favorite) and had dessert at Graeter's Ice Cream, where, of course, I had to have the Buckeye Blitz waffle cone.

Wednesday night was reserved for a team dinner with my new colleagues. We went to Aspara, a sushi and asian cuisine place in Blue Ash, the area north of Cincinnati where Hobsons is actually headquartered. I had a local beer called Over-the-Rhine and a Cleveland brew called Great Lakes. Also, I tried sushi for only the second time ever and, hey, I didn't hate it! So, I would say that says something about Aspara. Here's a picture of me, my team, and our "engagement sales" colleagues.

(left to right: Juan, Tim, Brian, To Anh, Brian, Dianne, Alex, Peter, Alan)

Thursday was my last night in town, so it was time to actually go into Cincinnati proper and at the very least take a picture of the famous Fountain Square.


Then, I took the advice of a local (thanks, GoogleBot) and went to Quatman's Cafe near Xavier University. I was advised that they have an outstanding burger in spite of the fact that there's nothing at all fancy about the place. Indeed, the burger was outstanding.

For dessert, I went to Aglamesis Brothers Ice Cream, another Cincinnati local hotspot and had the banana chocolate chip.

On Friday, don't laugh, I was taken to lunch at Chili's (not so much a Cincinnati local hotspot). Then, I flew back to BWI.

(And yes, much of this blog will be about food and local beers!)

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