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Or what I did on my summer vacation. So, it’s been a while since I last posted anything of meaning here. The summer has been pretty good so far. I have enjoyed having my Saturdays to myself, free from the troubles obligations of grad school. I’ve also enjoyed many Sundays watching NASCAR and IndyCar races regularly for the first time ever.

Speaking of TV, let me start by saying that I have now picked up a few series over the past two months. The biggest series I’ve been watching all summer is NCIS. With USA airing 3 reruns back-to-back-to-back every weekday, I started watching the show with Chris when I would get home from work. We’ve completed the first season thanks to Netflix. I’ve even gone so far as to create episode lists in Evernote to check off episodes as I’ve watched them. I have also gotten hooked on Burn Notice, Big Love and True Blood. I don’t know that I will get very far into these shows before I kiss my free time goodbye, but they certainly are entertaining me until then.

At the end of June, Chris and I flew out to DC for NECC 2009, an educational technology conference. While I had my trip paid for by work, we had to pay for Chris to attend the conference out of our pocket. The conference was pretty good, and we got to see a little more of DC once again. If you’re in DC, I would recommend Matchbox – not for their mediocre pizza, but for their delicious mini burgers. While we were out there, we also saw the Independence Day fireworks on the National Mall. I was disappointed, especially when compared to the Taste of Chicago fireworks. Hell, I think even the Septemberfest fireworks were better, even with the historic surroundings of DC. You can check out my Flickr photo set to see what I mean.

Shortly after returning from DC, we spent a weekend downtown at the Omni Hotel for our anniversary. Over the past few years I have stayed at all sorts of hotels, and I was very impressed with the Omni Chicago. For starters, @OmniHotels was quick to welcome us after I tweeted that we were heading to the hotel for the weekend. When we were at dinner the first night, Jennifer Avellana, the Loyalty Ambassador, surprised us with a bottle of champagne and a slice of chocolate cake for our anniversary.

The day of our anniversary, we had a couples massage at Asha Salon Spa at the James Hotel. It was very relaxing, getting us ready for our anniversary dinner. That night, we went to dinner at Smith & Wollensky, with a great view of the Chicago River. Since it was our anniversary, we went all out, of course. We split a bottle of wine recommended by the somelier. The wine was a perfect pairing with Chris’s rib eye and with my fillet mignon and lobster. We passed on dessert because we had stuffed ourselves. Later that night, while watching a movie, we ordered ice cream from room service. The lavishness of the day brought us back five years to our honeymoon cruise.

As summer is starting to wind down, I am playing catch up with several things I want to accomplish before the fall. For example, I am still slowly cleaning my office, a painstaking task that is three years old. I am also prepping my computers for OS upgrades. Outside of my office, I am trying to be social, helping out with Normal Moments publicity (want to buy a raffle ticket for The Little Things in Life walk?), and just enjoying what’s left of my free time. The other day I spent most of the day downtown with Herschell and Liana, seeing the sights, taking some photographs (which I promise will be posted soon). I’m hoping I will have some more days like that before classes start up, because I’m sure that I will once again have zero free time.

Anyway, my rambles have gone on long enough. After I finish assisting Chris with an Access project for RtI, I’m heading to bed.

I spent most of today just relaxing in Hersch and Liana’s house. This morning I helped Hersch prep beef in a red wine and tomato sauce, very similar to a beef burgundy. I helped with the broth, watching the water boil before added a stock base. For the most part, I watched him put it all together and do the knife work. He tried to teach me what he was doing, but I knew a lot of the basics already from the many hours of Food Network I have watched, wishing I could do those things myself. After mixing all of the ingredients together by 10:00 a.m., we left it to simmer the rest of the day. I think I have the basics for the dish down, and I might try to make it when I return to Schaumburg. My attempt at it probably won’t taste anywhere near as good.

For the rest of the day, I ran a few errands at the local market between Rock Band sessions and No Country for Old Men. I thought the movie was very well made, but not one that I would watch again any time soon. With Rock Band, I continued playing the drums today and got much better at it. I’m only on medium difficulty right now, but I’m progressing with just about every song I play. I found out that Rock Band has a PS2 version, but there is also a Wii version on the way. I won’t necessarily have to drop $300+ on an XBox 360 or PS3 to enjoy Rock Band later on.

I looked up some things to do in Vancouver, but I am not seeing much I want to do other than general sightseeing up there. I don’t know yet when I’ll head up there, but I think either Thursday or Friday. I don’t think I’ll have time to go on Saturday, and going tomorrow is just too rushed. I think I will try to head downtown and walk around a little. The 10 day forecast says that it will be mostly cloudy tomorrow. That should be OK for walking around.

I think I’ve finally adjusted to Pacific time. I’m going to head up to bed and read before I fall asleep with my laptop burning my legs.

Today, Hersch and I went to the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery and took a tour. Chateau Ste. Michelle makes some of my favorite wines, including a Reisling and a Pinot Gris. Liana joined us for dinner at The Pink Door, in the Pike Place Market. The restaurant features Italian-American fare with a very intimate dining room.

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We just came back from dinner at Quinn’s. After ordering drinks, we ordered braised meatball sliders; duck and duck rillette; oxtails with potato gnocchi and crispy marrow; and a side of marinated olives. The meatball sliders were pretty good, but they were tiny. Take a look at your keyboard. The sliders were about the size of four keys on your keyboard. The duck and duck rillette also included foie gras on top of a chicken mousse. Served with pieces of toast, the dish was quite tasty.

The highlight of my dinner was the oxtails dish. It had a really rich flavor which paired with the gnocchi quite well. The crispy marrow added even more to the already great combination of flavors. If you’re not into rich foods, you may find it a bit on the salty side. For me, however, it was so delicious. In fact, it was delicious enough to order a second plate.

If you’re in Seattle, I would recommend a visit to Quinn’s. I wouldn’t say that it is a must, but it is definitely worth a visit.

OK, this should be last of the Flight recap posts (parts 1 and 2). I only have a page of notes left. Again, check it out after the jump.

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Here’s the second part of my flight recap. Read it after the jump, because it’s too long.

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Here is a recap of what I wrote in a notebook while on the plane. All times are CST:

1:03 p.m.

So far this plane ride hasn’t been too bad. The worst part just now was trying to get up to go to the bathroom. The seats in United Economy are pretty tight, and even tighter when the seats in front of you are reclined.

1:05 p.m.

We’re getting a little turbulence.

Enchanted is the movie. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m not really watching it. I am only reading lips becaues I have the iPod going — a little Lily Allen, Anna Nalick, and now New Pornographers.

1:10 p.m.

I think we’re descending a little, but I’m not sure. It’s hard to tell visually because there has been a good bit of cloud cover most of the flight. Looking out into the distance, the cloud horizon looks a little higher, but I don’t know.

It is a little odd looking at the wing. We feel like we’re going pretty level, and the wing tip appears to be above the windows…[t]he lift caused by the moving air flexes the wing quite a bit.

1:15 p.m.

I’m starting to see snow-covered mountains appear through the clouds below. My guess is that we’re over Idaho, or at least the western Dakotas. Perhaps we are even over Canada?

1:17 p.m.

I took some pictures out the window earlier. It was closser to noon, and I could see the shadow of the jet stream on the clouds. I never saw the plane’s shadow, but I did see a rainbow around where I think it should have been.

That’s the end of the first page I wrote in my notebook. I will post more in the morning.