Not much going on, but I'm still here.

As the title suggests, there isn't too much to write about today. It's another day at work as usual. Yesterday I had the day off and decided it would be a great idea to stink up the entire apartment by making beer all afternoon. It was the coolest thing I've done in a while and I can't wait to make more. Matt Lincoln and I started drinking and boiling up a huge vat of beer around 3:30 and didn't stop until it was ready to ferment - about four hours (and six beers each) later. I had bought the kit from Modern Brew Warehouse on Mass. Ave. in Cambridge which is surprisingly close to my house. It was super cheap, and the ingredients were free because I had a coupon. The yield for this batch will be right around 5 gallons. That's about 53 12oz bottles for the mathematically challenged. So the net upshot is a whole bunch of really cheap beer. And if you're worried about quality - the ingredients I bought are as fresh as possible, and Matt and I followed the directions to the letter. In the end, I should have a killer IPA in about 3 to 4 weeks. Once I bottle this beer for bottle conditioning, I'm going to make another batch, so watch out everyone who comes to visit me, you're going to get loaded up on free homemade beer!

Other than that day of fun, I've been pretty boring lately. Just lots and lots of work, followed by lots and lots of sleep. I don't have cable or internet at home, so being there is really exceptionally boring. Maybe tonight I'll venture out somewhere since I get off work at 5:00 and there will still be plenty of daylight left for doing something. Then again, I may end up going to bed early because I feel a touch of a cold coming on, and I have a loooong day at work tomorrow and I want to be somewhat fresh for that.

Until next time, peace be with you.

I'm never drinking again...

Of course we all know that's not true. However, judging by how I feel today, I'm definitely not drinking so much vodka again. The sad part is that last night over the course of three hours, I only had five drinks. These were five FREE drinks, so they went down a lot more easily... Just as easily as my delicious chicken sandwich just came up.

Where was I drinking, you ask? Yesterday - Monday night - I attended the Boston launch party for the new Absolut vodka flavor - "Apeach". It was one of the most completely absurd things I have ever seen. And I don't use the word 'absurd' lightly here. That party had to have been planned by people on some serious hallucinogenic drugs. But it was all free, so of course I took advantage. Let's take a look back at some of the things that made this event such a display of insanity.

The location: The Arts for Humanity Epicenter. The place is a really interesting art gallery built in the industrial side of Boston's south end, or Southie, as people call it. I thought I was in the wrong place on the way to the party. Literally every other building in the area is a warehouse - desolate on Monday night. Then, out of the pitch black and silent night comes the huge club sound system and laser light display that was fueling the party.

The invitation: Here was something that made me feel really cool. Yesterday the sales rep for Horizon Beverage gave me the invite for the party. It required me to RSVP for the thing, so I called the number on the back. The recording on the voice menu told me to stay on the line for a representative and to "surrender to apeach." Finally, the little card didn't even tell you where the party was. I had to ask. All the card said was, "Location: Juicy." That should have tipped me off to the absurdity I was to experience later.

The setup: Six bars all pumping out free drinks scattered the floor of the gallery which had been completely emptied and redecorated with Absolut Vodka stuff. Most of the bars were pretty normal kind of banquet bars, but the main bar was a sight to behold. Imagine a two story scaffold draped in peach colored shiny fabric. At either side of the structure, two booths made of semi-opaque peach colored plexiglass contained dancers. I couldn't see inside them completely, but there were seriously girls who got paid to dance around inside these booths all night just as part of the bar. The bar itself was a little odd too. At the bottom, there was a countertop with a bunch of martini glasses and garnishes, attended by two girls wearing headsets. You gave them your drink order and they called it up to the girls at the top of the scaffold who mixed the drinks and then poured them down through tubes into glasses. Did I not say this place was absurd?

The happenings: The place was filled with what seemed to be Boston's most beautiful people. Tons of guys in Armani suits and chicks who looked like total sluts lined the walls and filled the dance floor. I bet they were wondering how a regular Joe-Average like me got in there. People were mingling, getting trashed, getting coked up, and generally getting pretty loose. Walking around the party was a guy with a digital video camera recording people having a good time - and the video was fed to a huge projection monitor on the wall. In addition to the DJ who was operating one of the most high-tech sets of equipment ever, there were two guys whose job it was to sort of "DJ" the light show that was going on. They controlled various projections, lasers, and for some reason a game of Unreal Tournament that was being displayed on the gallery wall. Later on, people started breakdance fighting. I shit you not.

On the way out, they handed me a bag of Absolut promotional material which included a deck of cards, a t-shirt, and a stupid baseball hat which I promptly donned and wore all the way home.

Looking back on the whole experience, I am frankly amazed that there are people in the world who get paid to plan and execute these sorts of shenanigans. I'm just glad to have gotten a little taste of the world people with more money than me live in. I'll take my quiet evenings at home nine times out of ten though.

At work, contemplating wireless woes.

If you haven't seen me in a while, there's a good reason. Well, there are two good reasons. First, I have been at work almost constantly - 48.5 hours this week (and every week I am to assume.) Also, I have been struggling with my wireless internet connection at home. We finally got a new cable modem and broadband service at home, but it has been frustrating trying to set up the wireless network so that we can have at least some sort of data encryption and simultaneously allow my roommates to access it. I had it all working last night. It was humming along, and... well to spare you the details, it doesn't work now - for anyone. So I have that to deal with when I get home today from another long day at work. Mind you, I have been here since 9:30 this morning, and I am none too happy about it.

The good news is that you can still reach me at my new email account or by phone. I can check the email at work, and my phone, though still TAPED together, works just fine.

I know this is short, and I'm sorry I don't have any pictures today, but like I said, it has been busy. Hopefully the weather will be nice on Wednesday and I can go do something interesting with that day. We shall see...

Keep in touch, guys.

Jeff out.