Dee-lish hand-pulled London-style in-house-brewed cask ale from American flatbread tap room in Burlington. Yum! I await my carmelized onion and goat cheese pizza.

Speaking of things they do well in Vermont, I just took the Magic Hat brewery tour.... the samples were amazing. I am in love the the Winter seasonal Belgian chocolate stout. I hope it's available in Boston. Next time we come up here, I'm bringing a growler for them to fill for me. Hooray, beer!

Coffee, ice cream, beer, cheese. Vermont seems to have the bases covered.

At Ben and Jerry's in Waterbury VT for factory tour.... then free ice cream!

Brother Jim awaits the T.

Cornmaze with my sister's kids

Ming Tsai cooking at a fundraiser for the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence at the new Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Boylston.
He made delicious shrimp treats with some sort of amazing reduction drizzled over-top.
I bid on a night at the symphony during the silent auction. Good times.
Edited to add: I won the night at the symphony for four. It's December 5th. I think Jim's parents will be here. If that's the case, we'll have a blast...plus, they'll think we're really sophisticated.

Ruby on rails workshop for women at harvard

Helping to teach a beginning class in ruby on rails this weekend. It is targeted at women in the hopes of increasing the female presence in software development. Venue is harvard law school. Hooray for gender diversity!

Goodbye, New Orleans. We had fun!

Fountain on the patio of the Bulldog on Magazine Street. Fortunately, the inside taps are equally copious.

Beignets at café du monde - yummy!

Jackson Square. From the second floor of the Cabildo.

Burial crypt of Marie Laveau, the most famous voodoo prietess in the history of New Orleans.

Live jazz is a reason to live

I can only imagine this in the days of kerouac

Trite? Yes, but there's a reason Pat O'Brien's is so famous.

Loyola University. You know, they call this statue "Touchdown" Jesus. To me, he seems more like "eh, whatcha gonna do" Jesus.

At Audubon Park. Then to Loyola and Tulane.

It's raining buckets this minute (sure to change soon) so we ducked into Tujague's for refreshments. A Pimm's cup for me and and absinthe suisesse for Jim. How civilized.

Absinthe Museum in the French Quarter.

Jim enjoying a gator sammich at Cooter Brown's, which is right near C.T.'s place. They have gambling, fried treats and 400 kinds of beeer. Tempting to hunker down for the long haul, but we have a levee to walk.

Here we are! Woo boy, it is hot and humid up in here. I need to switch over from my New England togs ASAP.

Waiting to board for Chicago. So far, so good.

New Orleans, here we come!

Here we sit in Medford, all packed and waiting to go to New Orleans. I plan to do a lot of nothing-in-particular, like drinking coffee, seeing bands and eating amazing food. Our flight leaves at 6AM tomorrow and we get into NOLA at 10:40. Thank goodness for a brother who has a job that allows us a free place to stay in the best town in the US (by my estimation, anyway).
Come back here often in the next four days for a ridiculous pictorial diary of our tip.
Hooray, vacation!

In Burlington Vermont killing time while Jym is working with UVm students on a project. Adter all the rain earlier. it's now a pretty perfect New England autumn day.

Yum!

A black-o-'lantern beer (Shipyard Pumpkinhead + Guinness) from Tommy Doyle's in Harvard Square. We put Team Julius on the road at 11:30. Since then. we've been shopping, snacking and having a few drinks. This is a real Sunday Funday!

A little creepy but also beautiful. Chapel burial ground, Boston's oldest

Argh... it's talk like a pirate day, mateys!

My pirate name is:

Captain Mary Kidd

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

This is the line to get INTO the dunkin donuts. Maine, Massachusetts. It doesn't matter. New Englanders love their dunkin donuts coffee.... and so do I.

10 minute walk from our hotel.... and a world of difference. Think I'll ride the ostrich on the carousel.

Now THIS is what I mean when I say we're going to the beach. The view from our patio. What a great way to spend the last official Summer weekend - at Old Orchard Beach Maine.

To old friends

It's official

I feel like I'm really a Masshole at this point. Between Senator Kennedy's send-off and the town hall meeting in Somerville with Senator Kerry, I think I've earned my full-out Masshole cred. In retrospect, it looks like BKDM's first-ever Boston Steamer post from two years ago was prescient.
I can be everyone's favorite Masshole now, I guess.

obama hitler? really? WTF.

Senator Kerry at the meeting.

Town hall meeting with Senator Kerry in Somerville. Pro-reform people outnumber the naysayers about 220:1. How I love you People's Republic of Massachusetts.

Dinner?

The sounds of the barking seals at dusk, and the pirate flag whipping in the wind, give this place an ominous feeling

Paradise bay

The view from tiburon

Beautiful sausalito

Nice day for a bike ride in san francisco

Godspeed to you, Senator Kennedy.

I just...

... shook hands with Robert Kennedy Junior. What a day.

Tug boats outside the library.

The line at the JFK library for Senator Kennedy's viewing. I'm proud to be here with tons of my fellow Americans to pay our respects to a really great, albeit flawed, man.

At the fisherman's feast in the North End. Here is the statue of the Blessed Virgin as she is processed through the streets.

Shatner does Palin

.... her tweets, that is.
Master thespian William Shatner gives beat flavor to former-Governor Palin's tweets.
She's a better poet than politician.

Sam and Samantha.

Brunch in salem (no ghost sightings yet)

We are meeting carrie for brunch at the hawthorne hotel. Here you see bust of dandy southern next to nathaniel hawthorne.

Yet another party to celebrate our wedding. This one is for work people thrown by my boss.

Welcome C.T. Thanks for bringing Sam to visit us.