We ended up having some great weather for this Memorial Day Weekend. Becky and I spent the weekend at the Lowe house in Oak Bluffs on ***Martha’s Vineyard|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha%27s_Vineyard***. We helped out with getting the house ready for summer – inside and out. We also had lots of great food and fun in the sun.

You can see the full, narrated photo gallery ***here|http://gallery.prwdot.org/vineyard_20040528***, but I will give you a few teasers below:

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Every so often Becky and I splurge on a night out in the city. We don’t spend a ridiculous amount of money, but certainly a bit more than we would going to Taco Bell and renting a video (nothing wrong with that either, mind you).

Last night we went to ***Pho Pasteur|http://www.weseatyou.com/restaurants/704/infotomhazen/www/Dunster/index.htm*** in Harvard Square. A Vietnamese restaurant, Pho Pasteur is one of our favorite dining spots. The prices are fairly reasonable, and the food is different and lighter than the usual Asian fare. We had the “Goi Cuon” as an appetizer – pork and veggies wrapped in a chewy rice roll. I had the “Com Chien” (Vietnamese fried rice with shrimp, pork, chicken, eggs, and mixed veggies) as my entree, and Becky had, I think, the “Hu Tieu Xao” (Stir fried flat rice noodles with sliced chicken, red and green peppers, onions, broccoli, green beans and snow peas). Yum.

After dinner we went to hear ***Mike DiBari|http://www.mikedibari.com/index.asp*** at his regular Friday night gig at the Oceana Restaurant in the ***Boston Marriott Long Wharf|http://marriott.com/property/propertyPage.mi?marshaCode=BOSLW***. It was his two-year anniversary of his regular gig there, so we came out in support to listen to his music, have some dessert, and relax. Mike’s trio, for those who don’t know, provided the music at our wedding reception and is really fantastic.

No photos from last night, but be sure to keep checking out the recently-renamed ***World Wide Photography|http://gallery.prwdot.org/***, including the ***grab bag|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grab_bag***, which I add to periodically with random photos from here and there.

Many of you may not know the story of how Becky and I met. I realized that, as far as I can tell, we’ve never mentioned it on the blog. So I thought it might be fun to write it out for all to read.

The first time we met, technically, was during orientation at ***Gordon|http://www.gordon.edu/***. We think, as best we can remember, that it was Monday, August 25, 1997. But that exact day isn’t terribly important, since we didn’t even realize we had met each other until well after we started dating. In any case, we had both taken the opportunity to go on a bicycling tour of the Wenham and Manchester areas, so we bicycled to the Manchester Yacht Club along with a group of other freshmen and some orientation leaders. After that day, however, we really didn’t run in to each other.

Until our junior year at Gordon. We ran into each other frequently towards the end of that year, through mutual friends. Sometimes I would eat with a friend who was eating with a friend who was eating with their friend, who was Becky. 🙂 There was one dance where we met up, and I had wanted to dance with her… but having just hurt my leg (at the dance), I really wasn’t feeling up to it. The pivotal moment, however, came one night in Ferrin Hall.

Becky was in the habit of coming over to Ferrin to watch ***ER|http://www.nbc.com/ER/index.html*** with her friends who lived on the first floor. The second floor had a lounge with satellite TV, and my room was just across the lobby from this lounge. Every so often, I would come over to the lounge to heckle them as they got all weepy over their favorite weekly show. One night, when I was sitting in the lounge, and Becky was watching ER, a commercial for ***Taco Bell|http://www.tacobell.com/*** came on. Becky exclaimed “Man, I would kill for some Taco Bell!” (or something of that nature – Becky) I replied, “Whoah, you like Taco Bell? I don’t know anyone up here [at Gordon] who likes it!” A connection was made. Some trips to Taco Bell ensued. It was a great time for Becky and I not only to enjoy our favorite fast food, but to chat, listen to music, and hang out.

After junior year, Becky and I corresponded over email. She was living on Martha’s Vineyard working at ***the bank|http://www.edgartownnationalbank.com/***, and I was living on campus at ***Gordon|http://www.gordon.edu/***, doing my co-op at ***CBD|http://www.christianbook.com/***

Once we started our senior year, we started seeing each other more frequently. There were more trips to Taco Bell, and frequent inter-apartmental visits, as we lived just a few floors apart in Tavilla Hall. On one fateful day, September 16, 2000, we took a trip into Boston to seek some slightly more advanced Mexican food. We ended up walking around the whole city, as the first two restaurants we had hoped to visit were closed. We ended up eating at ***Burrito Max|http://www.greenlinemenus.com/Restaurant.asp?RestID=304***. Later that night, I visited Becky in her apartment, where I told her how I felt about her… luckily, she felt the same! Phew!

One year and eight months later, we were engaged… five months after that, we were married. And that’s our story so far! Hope you’ve enjoyed it… and remember to check our our ***timeline|http://prwdot.org/?p=timeline*** to help put everything into perspective.

I suggested to Becky that Saturday might be a good day for her to try and teach me how to ice skate. There are numerous skating rinks in the North Shore area, but we decided it might be fun to drive in to Boston and skate at the ***Frog Pond|http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/frogpond_winter.asp***. We drove in, and after a few orbits around the Common, we found an incredibly nice parking space on Beacon Street, just above the intersection with Charles Street, and free to boot.

The Frog Pond was just a short walk away, so we headed over there, paid our admission, and rented skates. Apparently, the only thing they had in my size was hockey skates, so I was stuck with a big clunky pair of those while Becky got figure skates.

Now I have attempted to learn how to skate in the past, with disappointing results. But I tried to do my best. Really, I did. And Becky was a great and patient teacher. We spent maybe half an hour out on the ice, Becky calmly holding my hands as I slipped and slided. She gave me all of the advice and pointers that she could, and I did my best to follow them. And I know that she would have spent as long as was necessary, had I but the will to continue. I was simply too frustrated, however, so I gave up and sat out for a while as Becky had a few more turns around the ice.

Am I a quitter? Well, on Saturday I sure was. Maybe some day I will give it another go, but for now I will just leave it on the list of activities I’m content not to do.

The day wasn’t a total loss for me, however. After skating, we walked over to the ***Faneuil Hall|http://www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com/*** area, where we had earlier spotted what might be a good photographic opportunity. I did indeed take ***that photo|http://gallery.prwdot.org/boston_228/IMG_3105***, as well as several others. We then had the brilliant idea that there might be good views from the top of the parking garage at Dock Square. We took the elevator up to the 7th level, and wham! There were some spectacular views to be had! And it was free! I took a bunch of photos up there from that fantastic viewpoint, including this nifty ***panoramic photo|http://gallery.prwdot.org/boston_228/boston_panoramic_smaller***. If for some reason that doesn’t load, you can try viewing the full sized image ***here|http://prwdot.org/img/boston_panoramic_smaller.jpg***. (Note – it’s large, so if you’re on a dial-up modem be prepared to wait a minute). There are also some cool shots of Boston’s old Central Artery being torn down. You can see the full photo gallery from the day ***here|http://gallery.prwdot.org/boston_228***.

Happy Leap Day!

I would like everyone to join me in wishing my dear and wonderful wife a HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY!

The Beverly Depot is God’s Concession to people who are forced to live in downtown Beverly. Specifically, the 5:40 p.m. express train to Boston helps to take some of the sting out of living in an area that is, shall we say, a bit ghetto. It’s just a leisurely three minute walk from our apartment, and it gets us right into Boston.

Last night we took the express in for a night on the town. We had dinner at P.F. Chang’s, and then headed over to the Oceana Restaurant at the ***Marriott Long Wharf|https://marriott.com/property/propertyPage.mi?marshaCode=BOSLW*** to hear the ***Mike DiBari Trio|http://www.mikedibari.com/***. Mike and his trio had provided the fantastic live entertainment at our wedding reception, and we hadn’t gotten a chance to hear him since then. He has a regular Friday night gig at the long wharf, so we finally decided to take advantage of it. It was great music… we bought his CD and I think ***you should too|http://www.mikedibari.com/index.asp***!

Now it is off to the craziness of the malls for some final Christmas shopping. Ta-ta!

It only took me two and a half hours and the minimal help of a bobcat to shovel our two cars out this afternoon. I’d say that isn’t too bad.

I have come to believe that shoveling snow (done correctly with your legs, not your back) is the ultimate and perfect form of exercise. It is aerobic, forcing your heart rate up. It is muscle conditioning, arms, legs and back, and best of all you gain a sense of purpose and a feeling of accomplishment as you start to see your car and the pavement again. I think that that is tons better than going to the gym and running for 30 minutes and getting nowhere 🙂

Speaking of shoveling… For all of you who have heard the saga of the shovel that walked away from outside our apartment door and thought never to been seen again… THE SHOVEL HAS BEEN FOUND!!! It had been seceretly locked away in the closet with the water heaters and the cable hook ups. I was able to sucker the keys away from Landlord Jr. while he was playing with the bobcat and there it was, all red and lonely. We are glad to have you home again, shovel!

So not only was it a Nor’easter today, but we also had a blackout, from around 8:30 to 10:30 p.m.! Becky and I ventured out into the darkened city of Beverly to have a look-see, and if you jump to ***page two of our Nor’easter gallery|http://gallery.prwdot.org/noreaster?page=2***, you can see what there was to see! It was way cool walking around outside… it was so windy and stormy. Cabot Street was fairly dead, but there were a lot of people in cars trying to make their way down Rantoul Street… and having a fairly difficult time of it. The news tonight said that 13,000 North Shore Mass Electric subscribers were without power, and I know that Beverly has over 30,000 residents, so I’m guessing it was mostly us, and probably a few other communities too. It was fun for us while it lasted, but I hope nobody had any serious problems. At least the outages and the snowstorm are happening on the weekend…. the impact isn’t as much as it would be on a weekday.

In weather news, the snow still continues… our pastor called on the phone and let us know that church is cancelled for tomorrow. We also have a party we were scheduled to attend in the afternoon, but we will need to see what the driving is like tomorrow before we make that venture.

That’s all for now… more later from the Nor’east. 🙂

Today was the much-anticipated first big snowstorm of the season, a proper Nor’easter. Becky and I took a walk down to the ocean today, and I ***took some photos|http://gallery.prwdot.org/noreaster***.

I also shot a ***short video|http://prwdot.org/mov/ocean_snow.avi*** at the beach – it’s 11.7 megs and in AVI format, so I’d only try watching it if you’re on a fairly quick connection. The waves and the sound of the surf are awesome during a storm like this!