markdalius.com

electronics!

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:01:24 -0500

I love the iPhone so far. Reception is a hell of a lot better than with my old LG flip phone--not that that's saying very much. I would routinely lose my signal when the T drove by. Call clarity is clearer too, which is nice for both me and the callee, given that conversations are now a lot less like "So I was...hello? Hello? Are you there? Are you still there? Hello?" and then swearing.

So far, I've downloaded and installed the standard "best of free" apps, including the NYTimes newsreader, AOL Radio, and a neat To-Do list app called Jott that allows you to record voice notes when it then transcribes into text. I also have the "flashlight" app that turns your screen different colors which allows you to use your iPhone as a low-power flashlight in very dark and treacherous environments, such as our condo at 2 a.m. Rest easy, my shins and Labatt!

Also, I finally got around to rebuilding the gaming PC. I tried to install the video editing software that came with the digital camcorder and found that it wouldn't run on Windows 2000. Combined with the fact that I can't play any computer game released after 2004, I figured I could justify spending $700 on some new stuff. I got:

ASUS P5K Pro motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3Ghz processor
2 gigs RAM
Western Digital Caviar 500G 7200 RPM SATA hard drive
PNY GeForce 9600 GT 512m video card
CD/DVD burner
Windows XP

This is the first system I've built with SATA connectors or a PCI Express video card, which gives you an idea how old my existing gaming system was. I was amazed at how big video cards are now--the new GeForce is the size of my forearm. And it still amazes me that a tiny piece of silicon smaller than the top of a soda can is has more computing power than the Space Shuttle.

Anyway, the house is a mess, my diet is a mess, and I haven't worked out in weeks. Tonight is going to involve cans of Coors Light, a dust rag, the paper shredder, a vacuum, and possibly a copy of either BioShock or the Game of the Year edition of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.

back and married

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:37:28 -0500

The honeymoon was absolutely incredible...Anguilla exceeded our wildest expectations.

I'll write more details later, but for now, suffice it to say that:

our accommodations were the perfect blend of luxury, privacy, and comfort
the beach is rated #1 in the Caribbean for a reason...some would say #1 in the world, and I have no problem believing them
we saw sea urchins, parrotfish, an octopus, countless tropical fish, squid, crabs, and the molted skin of a spiny lobster, as well as a huge school of thousands of fish that we floated effortlessly above as they essentially surrounded us
we met amazing people from the island, including high-powered businessman turned island restauranteur and relaxation aficionado Mango Dave, French chef Fabrice, and easygoing man of many cultures Mike
we happened upon another couple from DC with a surprising link to a Boston band from Kara's past
we ate, ate, and ate food that ranged from the comfortable to the sublime
we learned to drive on the left side of the road
we got "smoothed out" at Smoothie's, resulting in some laughs and hijinks for our friends and the staff
we had great weather, met great new friends, read some books, snorkeled some reefs, walked some beaches, took some photos and videos, and enjoyed our first few days of married life to the fullest, making some memories that will stay with us forever

Needless to say, it was our first time to Anguilla, but it is far from our last! We're not quite ready to quit our jobs and open a restaurant there, but if someone should win the lottery...well, Kara has always wanted to open a Bed and Breakfast, but she never specified that it had to be in the US. We cannot wait to go back!

Relax and enjoy life...it's the Island Way!

Mr. and Mrs. Mark and Kara Dalius

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:01:02 -0500

We're married!

Wedding was a smash hit and by all accounts, everyone had a great time. I'll fill in details later.

The cab gets here in 15 minutes to take us to the airport, then it's off to Anguilla!

last entry as a bachelor

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:43:56 -0500

Vegas was awesome and I'll have to write about it sometime.

I'm getting married in about 30 hours. I'm quite happy to be getting married and not nervous about that; I'm nervous a bit about the ceremony and details and whatever else. I guess I'm nervous for the sake of being nervous.

But at this point, everything that can be done is done. Every detail has been taken care of. There's nothing left to do but have the wedding.

I probably won't blog again until I get back from the honeymoon, but I'm looking forward to that too. So that's it for my last entry as a bachelor! Wish me luck.

off to vegas

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:03:33 -0500

In under 24 hours, we head out to Vegas for the big bachelor extravaganza, and I couldn't be more excited. Couple that with my recent promotion to Lead Developer and of course the impending marriage, and there's no way life could be any better.

Plus, I've registered a domain name that should give me an interesting project to work on in the near future, so stay tuned...if I'm not a millionaire in the next couple days...

obligatory bullet-point update

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:26:55 -0500

The past month has been very busy in a good way. Kara and I joined MJP and Stephanie at a NH lake house owned by Stephanie's family for a weekend of grilling and lazing about, and we did an Upstate NY wine tour around Lake Seneca the next weekend. This past weekend Mom and Dad were in town for Kara's bridal shower; we have lots of neat new toys that I can't wait to use.

I'm absolutely exhausted, and I can only imagine how much more tired Kara must feel. It's been a good last few weeks but I'm relieved to be sitting on my balcony with Labatt at my feet, trying to decide where we should order pizza from for dinner.

I'm too tired to write much but I guess I can put down some bullet points for some of the recent activities:

Labatt stayed at mum's for over a week since we were away a couple weekends in a row
Dad and I ate at several Gloucester restaurants while the shower was going on and while the girls were off doing wedding stuff
I took MJP canoeing for the first time
For a shared wedding present for Kara and I, I bought a Canon HF100 HD camcorder
Mom and Dad brought me up a case of Yuengling and a snack pack of Middleswarth chips
We saw the best 4th of July fireworks ever when our lake rental next-door neighbors lit off a bunch of fireworks from their dock
We went to 9 wineries and tried about 70 different wines, and bought 14 bottles
We had lunch at Tully's in Syracuse on the way back, after walking around the campus
I had my car washed and had to replace the rack and pinion after the steering started making a horrible noise
I made homemade chili in the crock pot we got (I know technically you're not supposed to use your gifts until after the wedding, but if Kara bails on me I've got bigger problems than returning the punch bowl to the right person)
Rabbitt moved on from the old job and got a great position at NYTimes.com

That's a bunch of good stuff. I know there was more, but that's a good start. It's been busy but fun. This weekend we have nothing planned, just to do any wedding stuff that's outstanding, and then the next weekend is Vegas!

grilled buffalo wings

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 01:53:15 -0500

I have to write about this before I forget.

I have finally managed to cook excellent Buffalo wings.

I've tried in the past to pan fry wings, to deep fry wings, to bake wings...frozen breaded wings don't really count, but I couldn't even get those to come out all that well. That all changed tonight.

The idea to grill wings came from a restaurant on Rt. 1 that has "fire-grilled wings" as part of the actual restaurant sign; before that, it hadn't even occurred to me. So I looked for some recipes, and finally settled on a variation (obviously, because God knows I can't just follow directions without trying to give it my own little bit of flair) of this: wings

What I did was this: I semi-thawed the frozen wings under cold running water while still in the package. Then, I put them into a glass bowl while I heated the grill (I've been using cooking spray lately to keep things from sticking, and I used extra this time, just in case). I lightly dusted them with cayenne pepper and black pepper, then tossed to coat. I then added maybe a quarter-bottle of Texas Pete wing sauce, and tossed to coat.

Here's where it gets a little more involved. I put the wings on the grill, heated for about 10 minutes. Then, I took them off, one or two or three at a time, coated them again in wing sauce in the same glass bowl, then put them back on the grill...opposite side of the wing, so they would cook evenly and not burn. Wait 10-12 minutes or so, repeat again.

So now we're about 25 minutes into it. I think I did the same process maybe once more? I can't remember. Anyway, the point is, put them on the grill for about 10 minutes, remove and re-coat in sauce, place back on the grill. Continue this process every 10 or so minutes. They'll be done after 40 minutes.

At the end, I washed and cleaned the sauce bowl--you do NOT want to re-coat the wings in sauce that has had raw chicken soaking in it! Food poisoning from undercooked chicken is NOT fun, and I have done that to myself on at least a couple of occasions! So, at the 30-minute re-coat, once the wings are on the grill for the last 10 minutes, take the bowl and wash it out. At the 40-minute mark, put the wings back in the bowl and coat them again in wing sauce.

Eat.

The flavor is not initially overwhelmingly "Buffalo," because there is a smokiness and a sultry heat that only presents itself after you've finished a wing. Give it 4 or 5 before passing judgment; believe me when I say that these are not going to be your average corner pub wings. They will be different, but they will be amazing. I recommend plucking them out of the bowl with tongs, then, pouring the rest of the sauce over them, burnt bits and all. Amazing.

Now, they're wings, and they have the skin on them, so they are not going to be as healthy as a boneless skinless breast (although I intend to try this same recipe on a cutlet later this week). But, at least they're not fried. So this is absolutely the healthiest possible way to make wings that I believe exists. Yeah, maybe you could make them in the oven, but they simply aren't as good. I think this is a reasonable compromise: it's not as bad as it could be, and the smoky, charred flavor adds something that you're not going to get from the best deep-fried wings out there.

If it's still confusing:

Kitchen timer reads: 0 minutes. Wings are in a bowl, coated with sauce. Put them on the grill.
Kitchen timer reads: 10 minutes. Take the wings off the grill, a couple at a time, re-coat them in sauce from the bowl, put them back on the grill. Make sure you turn them so you cook the opposite side. Keep doing this until you've done it with all the wings.
Kitchen timer reads: 20 minutes. Do the same thing you did before.
Kitchen timer reads: 30 minutes. Do the same thing you did before. Take the bowl inside, wash it with soap and water, and put maybe another quarter-bottle of wing sauce in it.
Kitchen timer reads: 40 minutes. Take the wings off the grill, put them in the sauce, and toss them to coat. This is optional; if you want the wings to be more dry you don't have to do it. To make them wet and certainly a bit hotter, do it. Serve.

wedding and registry

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:47:57 -0500

Wedding invitations have gone out! We got a bunch of reply cards in the mail today; that was quite fast.

I'll admit that I've been F5-ing the online registry...it's like Christmas morning every day. The fact that we're older and more established means that we already have a fair amount of "stuff," but the things we registered for are a) things we don't already have, b) things we don't have enough of, c) things we have but they're pretty worn out and broken down, or d) things that we have but we'd like really really good quality pass-it-to-your-grandkids versions of. Things we don't already have would be like the food processor or the mixer or slow cooker. Things we don't have enough of would be the day-to-day plates and bowls (we're using as our primaries the same plates I grew up with--now, they're very nice Corelleware, durable stuff, but a lot have gotten broken over the years to the point where we only have two matching bowls). Worn out stuff would be luggage, the bakeware, or the towels. And the "high-end" stuff is the china, the cooking knives, maybe the pots and pans.

And there's a lot on there that is just for entertaining, which we love to do, and other stuff that's for decor or just for fun--like the soft-serve ice-cream maker and dispenser.

Anyway, my time is split about 70-30 between endgame wedding planning and wrapping up a handful of projects for the quarter at work. We booked flights for Vegas for the bachelor party but have yet to book a hotel; I still have a couple questions about that and I need to make a call for some advice. We're looking at tuxes this weekend, we're working on a cake topper, and endlessly trying to answer the burning question, chair covers or no chair covers?

It's going to be a very fun wedding.

lots of little things

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:01:11 -0500

The last few days have been hugely productive. In that time, I/we have:

bought a white ceiling fan and remote kit for the bedroom
bought a new reasonably-sized and energy-efficient air conditioner for the bedroom
accidentally ordered the "kettle chips" appetizer at John Harvard's Brewery, which I was expecting to be a small bowl of chips but which turned out to be basically potato chip nachos with cheese and bacon and scallions and sour cream and of course a ton of kettle chips, thus undoing any good that came from going to the gym/ordering a salad for my entree
discovered that the ceiling fan required not a half-inch pancake box but a full-size box, requiring a trip to Home Depot
correctly and without mishap installed the white ceiling fan
more or less balanced the new ceiling fan so it doesn't wobble too much, although the living room fan doesn't wobble at all, which means at some point I'm going to have to work on it again to get it absolutely perfect
did laundry
got rid of an ugly hall light and replaced it with the old overhead light from the bedroom
watched the Celtics beat the Lakers in game 1 of the NBA finals, which Kara got to see in person--the perks of working for a big company--and it was an exceptional game
wrapped up our wedding registry (we're registered at Crate and Barrel and Macy's), removing a few items that we really didn't need and adding some nice Victorinox luggage that we would like
became a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Lodge 892, in Gloucester, MA
made turkey chili
put up some posterboard so we can keep track of our "Countdown to the Big Show," aka things that we need to do before the wedding
looked at and mostly decided on groomsmen gifts (it's kinda funny that most of the people who will read this are groomsmen anyway...the gifts are going to be custom engraved rocks, and by custom engraved, I mean I will draw on them with permanent marker)

I think that's it. There was some work stuff too. I'm wrapping up three big projects, one of which needs about 8 hours more work, one of which is in the vendor bidding stage, and one of which is ready to go to QA as soon as I finish the QA writeup. It's very busy!

And that's all for now. Looks like it's going to be me and the groomsmen for the Vegas Bachelor Extravaganza, and I can't wait...it'll be a very neat vacation, and I think we can do it for a reasonable cost as well. I'm especially excited that there will be a number of Vegas Virgins in the contingent, so that will be a really great excuse to do what I enjoy anyway, which is walk through the absolutely amazing entertainment venues that the strip offers and see as many casinos as possible.

wedding stuff, general life stuff, ceiling fan

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:44:14 -0500

Kara has been off in Rockport since last night for purposes of attending a bridal shower this morning, so I've had the day to myself. It's been awhile since I've had a "man day" to just sit around, surfing the web, drinking beer and smoking cigars. The kitty has been hanging out with me; our next-door neighbors, I found, also have a kitty, whom they brought out onto the balcony, albeit unsuccessfully, as neighbor kitty was not interesting in lounging on the porch. I wonder if Labatt would like to come out here, but maybe not...at any rate, I'd be a little too nervous that she'd try to jump in one of the flower boxes or something.

I hung out with MJP the last two nights, talking about plans for our joint bachelor party in Vegas. It looks like it will be a nice small crew, which I actually prefer. Of everybody who has RSVP'ed, I've been to Vegas the most, so it will be fun to kind of lead our merry troupe from casino to casino, play Star Wars penny slots, watch the fountains at the Bellagio, and so forth.

Work has been good and the Q2 software release has been evolving as I have hoped it would, going from a monolithic update to a series of smaller, discrete updates. We've taken the company from a reactive model where we were always fixing bugs in a panic to a proactive model where we're consistently producing upgrades in response to real or imagined customer need. I am very proud of my company and happy to be part of it.

We just about have the wedding invitations finished. The last step is actual assembly of the invite page with the blue backing cards, and the assembly of the entire invitation package into a single unit. Mrs. Hartman was really great in that she hand-lettered all of our envelopes, which looks fabulous and saved us a ton of time. The new "wedding heart" stamp comes out on June 10th, so that will be the date the invites go into the mail.

I had my Elks indoctrination last week and I will be inducted into the Gloucester Lodge on Tuesday night, which I'm excited about. I don't think I'll be able to be super-active in the lodge just yet, but who knows...it will be good to be part of the organization, in anticipation of someday moving to Cape Ann for retirement.

The motorcycle has been back out on the road recently; I did a little work on it on Friday, replacing a very important bolt that had fallen off at some point (one of the bolts that holds the front brake to the fork). It needs to be inspected, which requires me to find the missing registration certificate. I think it's somewhere on my mess of a desk.

Everything is very good. The three tomato plants are growing well, I've re-started some hot pepper seeds in an effort to get viable seedlings, and the pansies in the window boxes are absolutely huge.

I am also adding to my repertoire as a general contractor. I successfully hung, wired and installed a ceiling fan in the living room last weekend, which marks the first time I've done real electrical work. I had replaced just about every outlet and light switch in the condo during painting, but that didn't involve anything more significant that attaching wires to terminals. The fan actually involved attaching mains wires via wiring nuts, correctly identifying hot versus neutral wires in connecting the fan remote, and even cutting into the ceiling so I could mount a fan-rated pancake box to hold the fan. I'm very proud. Next house upgrades include a fan in the bedroom and a couple of light fixture replacements...the fixtures in the hallways are ugly, and Kara and I found a nice new hallway fixture called, ironically, "Kara," at Home Depot the other weekend. So that will go in as soon as I get a coupon from Home Depot so I can buy a bunch of stuff at once.

I haven't been running as much lately owing to some shin splints a few weeks ago and general laziness, but I'll get back into that in the coming week.

random update

Mon, 12 May 2008 13:05:07 -0500

I'm actually feeling pretty good today, despite still being sick. It's nice to be back in the office after mostly working from home last week, and as much as I really do enjoy the experience of grad school, I think I needed a break. The triple-threat of work, school and wedding was wearing me down a bit.

I would really like for spring to finally be here. It is in the high 50s, windy and overcast today. I should be wearing shorts and grilling every evening by this time. I blame global warming and the related shifts in weather patterns.

I think I also kinda missed coffee. I had a cup this a.m. before our phone conference and it really perked me up.

This week, I think we're going to try to make some headway on invitations, get back into the habit of cooking regular meals, and...I think that's it. That's enough.

sick, run, engagement

Sun, 11 May 2008 21:00:35 -0500

Happy Mother's Day! Some short tidbits:

I am sick. Somehow, I have both an ear infection and conjunctivitis (pink eye). I know, what am I, five? The pink eye seems to have gone away but I still have fluid in my ears. I'm taking some antibiotics, but if it doesn't start getting better soon I'll head back to the doctor's again this week.

Despite being sick, we ran a 5K in Somerville this morning. Kara did great in her first ever competitive run, coming in with a time around 32 minutes, and I managed to do what I wanted to do, which was finish in under 35, at about 34:20 or so. Not quite my old Middleburg Cross Country times, but I'm satisfied for just having done the run.

Afterwards, we went out with friends and various mothers and grandmothers for brunch. Mum is staying with us for the weekend and she and Kara have been busy cleaning the house while I mostly sit around trying to not be sick.

School is done, with final projects and exams wrapped up last week. It occurred to me last week that I have been very harried this spring between work, school and wedding planning. It will be nice to only have two things on my plate.

We had our formal engagement photos taken last week. Kara will look beautiful and hopefully our photographer can use the "Hotness" filter in Photoshop to make me look good. I suggested a McConaughey setting of 2 and maybe tweaking the Pitt to .47.

MJP and Stephanie are engaged! He proposed on Saturday...I went out with him on Friday night for a last "single" night out. I'm extremely excited for the two of them...they are definitely a perfect match, a long time in the making.

That's it for now...hopefully I will be less sick this week, and better able to focus on work and other stuff. My head feels like a wet paper towel right now.

fenway, wedding, semester

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:35:25 -0500

I finally got to tour Fenway Park on Sunday, through a tour set up through the SU Alumni Club. It was really neat seeing the inside of the ballpark and learning about all the history of the place. In an interesting turn of events, we got to sit inside the press box, which is where I could have easily ended up had my journalism career gone otherwise!

Wedding planning is going well and is pretty much wrapping up. The next steps include finishing the invitations, planning the shower and bachelor party, and other last-minute things like tuxes and whatnot.

The semester is also coming to a close. It's been a good one, and I've learned a lot. I'm tired though...I really can't wait to have my Monday and Thursday nights free again.

Other than that, not really much going on. I probably should write more but what else is new.

plugging along

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:33:42 -0500

Just a short update here while I wait for a conference call to begin...nothing all that interesting has happened lately. Mostly your standard domestic stuff. We bought a new shelf for storing excess groceries in the kitchen; we're trying to get the cat to stop jumping on certain pieces of furniture. Went out for a pub crawl with some friends this past weekend. My 4th semester of grad school is wrapping up. Nothing else much.

I've been 30 for just over a month so far and that has probably been the biggest...I hesitate to use the word "struggle" because it's not like anything that significant has changed, except that I feel more inclined than ever to try to take certain things more seriously, etc. I'm not sure that I'm doing a great job of it. Just the standard stuff: get up earlier, exercise more, drink less, eat more reasonably, do the sorts of things I should be doing. I find that to be kind of difficult given the sort of extended adolescence that our 20s are these days, and I'm sure I shouldn't be treating it as this sudden lifestyle change sort of thing, but I find it hard not to.

That's really about it. Lots of stuff on my list to do, not a whole lot that I feel that motivated towards, unfortunately. Plugging along.

it takes 30 years

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:45:06 -0500

I've had a pretty good run in these last 30 years. On the ride home, it occurred to me that I am certainly in the 99th percentile of all humans who have ever lived, in terms of health, success, opportunity, and general quality of life. And even amongst humans alive today, I'd put myself in probably no lower than the 97th or 98th percentile...I'm not a millionaire, but there are very few of those relative to poor peasants in China, Pacific islanders and starving sub-Saharan Africans.

As many bad times as I've had--and there have been plenty--I've had it better than pretty much anybody in history, statistically speaking. It hasn't been too bad a life.

I started thinking about things I've done. This is not for bragging purposes. I sometimes have a hard time feeling like I've accomplished things...I feel like I should have done more, that I could work harder and be more successful and whatever else. I want to keep working on my life and trying to be a better person, and try to experience as much as I can in the short time I have on Earth, but I thought it might be nice to reflect back on the last 30 years and say, honestly, I've done some really neat stuff. I've done stuff that 99% of people have not done. And when you combine all the variables together, it's been a one-of-a-kind sort of life, and that makes me feel a lot better about things.

I have:

gotten engaged

graduated from high school

graduated with honors from college

completed part of a post-graduate degree

set a state record in an academic competition

been an Eagle Scout

flown an airplane

ridden a motorcycle

sailed a boat

caught a fish

made pottery on a wheel

written and taken photos for a real newspaper

visited 11 countries on two continents

ascended the Eiffel Tower twice

climbed a rock face wihle blindfolded

gotten a perfect score on my verbal SATs

made Dean's List

made the honor roll

spoken at my high school graduation

spoken at three Eagle Ceremonies, including my own

read in church

won public speaking competitions

crashed a mountain bike badly enough to need stitches

skied down a triple-black-diamond ski slope and an Olympic ski mountain

come up with several original recipes that others enjoyed

run a 5K

finished a running race with a (slightly) broken leg

hiked part of the Appalachian trail

lit a fire with two or fewer matches

brewed my own beer

played guitar, wrote songs, sang and performed in a band

written a play that was performed

sung a solo in a musical

built functional and decorative wooden furnishings and accessories

replaced electrical sockets

painted a condo

bought a condo

purchased and paid off a car

gotten an Employee of the Quarter award

made a real difference to a business

smoked a Cuban cigar

scuba dived the ocean wall

kept fish

owned a cactus

played paintball

swum a mile

run over ten miles

changed a tire

changed a motorcycle's oil

repaired a motorcycle's brakes

learned martial arts

forded a stream in a car

painted a picture

developed my own film

won money in Las Vegas

gotten kicked out of a bar

"borrowed" a lawn ornament

jumped off a high dive

streaked a campfire

gone tubing on a river

walked through a bees' nest

drunk a Mind Eraser

gone to multiple rock concerts

crowdsurfed

done a kegstand

shaken the hand of a well-known person

recorded an album

made a layered shot

realized that the tenses of the verbs in many of these points did not match, and fixed them

lost a fight

learned to use a fencing sword

been a photographic model

learned to sight-sing

built my own computer

designed a T-shirt for a college function

built a commercial web application for a private client

interviewed a prospective employee

lost my job

survived layoffs

built a fort in the woods

"Robin Hood"-ed an arrow

kayaked in the ocean

ridden a horse

explored a cave

grown popcorn

done donuts in the snow

learned to smoke a pipe

studied abroad

touched the Atlantic and Pacific oceans

ordered food in another language

installed a toilet

played golf, tennis, horseshoes, darts, quoits, bocce, badminton, pool, soccer, basketball, football, baseball, frisbee, kickball, volleyball, and gone bowling

won a hand of poker

sewn something with a sewing machine

beaten a video or computer game

actually proven something in a science project

written a computer game

been in a short film

hand-lettered a commercial sign

been a pallbearer

camped out on the beach

That's just what I can think of at 1 a.m. I know there's a lot more. Please don't spent a lot of time reading it; this is just self-indulgence. I'm just reminding myself of how good my life has been.