Making the switch to Moonkin

When I used to play Warcraft 3 a few years ago, my favorite character class to use against the enemy was the Druid. Their ability to shift into different forms gave them what I felt was a tremendous advantage. So naturally when I picked up World of Warcraft a few months ago, my first character was a Night Elf Druid. Fortunately they'd gained the ability to shift into other forms besides Bear.

Going on the advice of a friend and veteran of the game I decided to spec Feral. This turned out to be a pretty good choice given the peculiar difficulties that a Druid presents and since this was my first character. As I learned more about the game play, I became better at using my Cat form in conjunction with Bear form to shred and tank against mobs. Yet save for the occasional role as a healer in instance runs, I felt my spell casting abilities were being severely under utilized.

By the time I reached level 45, I'd invested nearly 10 points in the Balance tree. This worked well in that I could use my DoTs to wear down an enemy to half their HP before they even got close whereupon I could easily finish them off in Cat form. Unfortunately, this also drained my mana pool very quickly. After reading up on the latest patch changes and how it vastly improved the Balance tree, I decided to re-spec and see if that matched by playing style any better.

Within an hour of going Balance and gaining Moonkin form, I did an incredible instance run of Zul'Farrak with my guild buddies as a high DPSer. Though Cat and Bear form had both decreased significantly with regards to damage output, in a sticky situation I could still switch to the latter and perform Frenzied Regeneration. Gradually, I changed out all my gear as well and went for those items with high intellect. I also switched to using a two-handed mace as my main weapon which upped my attack power and thus my mana regeneration.

At this point, I am a level 52 Balance Druid who spends about 95% of his time in Moonkin form. I haven't regretted the re-spec at all and in fact, I have only come to enjoy it more. Recently I attained Force of Nature thus giving me three treants to fight on my behalf and allowing me to easily take on enemies three or four levels higher. In PvP, I now have Warlocks of equal level complaining that I'm overpowered.

In short, the Balance tree has long been overlooked for Druids in favor of the easier-to-solo Feral build. But with the right equipment, good mana management and a desire to play more like a mage than a warrior, the Moonkin Druid can quickly rise to the top and become an invaluable member of raids and instance runs.

Revolution Health launches!

Three months after the initial beta release, Revolution Health launched yesterday to much fanfare and celebration. Yours truly is privileged enough along with 280 or so other employees to be a part of this incredible startup. To celebrate, the company rented out the Beacon Hotel just down the street and provided an open bar and appetizers. For some, it seemed like it was the first of the outside world they'd seen in several weeks after having worked furiously to get the site ready for launch.

Though I wasn't locked away I was working some pretty heavy hours to make sure that our group's section of the site was working seamlessly. It feels a bit strange to finally be on the other side of it all, as if we've stepped through some sort of door. One thing's for sure, there is no going back. From here on out, the health industry is going to wake up and listen and not just to us, but to consumers as well.

Our competition seems to be taking the hint. From imitating our look and feel (it's the sincerest form of flattery, right?) to adding a 'community' section, they are doing their best to keep up. Coincidentally enough, on the day of our launch they fired their CTO. Some people have theorized as to whether this was a signal to us but there's no way to be sure.

What is certain though is that we only needed to do something disruptive in either health care or technology to be revolutionary but we have instead chosen to take on both fronts. A brand-new approach to health care combined with the amazing Ruby on Rails framework means that we will be that much harder to beat. Let the race begin.

Back from hiatus

Yes, so I know it's been a long time since I've posted here and all I can say is that I have some very good reasons for my hiatus. The big one would have to be work. In preparation for our launch this Thursday, our full site release mind you, I've been working 12 hour days. Trying to maintain even the shadow of a social life in light of these long hours has been difficult to say the least.

In addition, I have also been spending time building my character in World of Warcraft. I'll probably dedicate a full post to that sometime later this week. Needless to say, while some will point to this as evidence of WoW's addictive powers, I can assure you that a few hours spent gaming online every now and then does not make one an addict.

Thanks to work pressures I feel like my Ruby/Rails knowledge has increased exponentially in the past few months. From plugins to ActiveRecord, the need for efficient easily-maintainable code has forced me to dive into Rails' inner workings. It's been tough but I feel that I have a much better idea now of what's going on behind the scenes.

So in effect, work is the culprit. I can only hope that in the future I will be able to drag myself away from it to blog on at least a weekly basis.

First trip to New York

Friday morning began early at 6am with a short Metro ride to Reagan National airport where we awaited our direct flight to LaGaurdia. Unfortunately icy weather kept our plane grounded longer than expected and what was supposed to be a brief journey lasted quite a bit longer, thus delaying our arrival in Manhattan until early that afternoon. Once we dropped our bags off at the hotel though we were off. As it turns out, we were located less than a block away from the U.N. which was a source of unmitigated joy for me. Those of you who know my penchant for politics should understand my reaction.

The late arrival of our flight meant that both of us were absolutely famished. Fortunately her friends Becky and Elliott were there to take us to lunch, a small BBQ place called Duke's. Afterwards, Becky gave us an afternoon tour of Midtown including such highlights as Grand Central, Times Square and the New York Public Library. The early morning wake-up combined with all the afternoon's activities required a return to the hotel followed by a brief nap. We then met up with them again that evening in the Upper East side at a place named, coincidentally enough, Becky's Pub.

Saturday began in earnest for us with a trip to the American Museum of Natural History. We'd used the Subway briefly the night before, thus giving us a heightened confidence in its use. This morning's ride would prove a much different beast. To start off, the orange 'V' line we had planned on taking was out of service as was the blue 'C' line, our backup plan. The downtown blue 'A' line was the only option left to us, but when we attempted to transfer at the 50th St. station we found ourselves in a bit of a pickle. Apparently, and this is something known only to New Yorkers and adventurous tourists like us, some stations require you to actually leave the station and walk a few blocks to get to the uptown line. This is something we discovered only after a lengthy and frustrating walk around the rather sizable station.

The museum was fun albeit very crowded. We actually spent the majority of our time there in the Hayden Planetarium. After leaving the museum we headed for Central Park looking forward to a leisurely afternoon stroll. Lazily we made our way towards the Midtown entrance on the East side stopping to snap photos of particularly picturesque settings. Eventually we came out near the Central Park Zoo whereupon we quickly headed towards the hotel to prepare for that evening's activities. Nighttime saw us at a nearby French restaurant called "Deux Amis" followed by a showing of Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic theater. It was an incredible show, one that I've always wanted to see. We followed up with dessert at Junior's, a local restaurant known for their amazing cheesecakes.

Feeling a bit stung by the previous day's issues with the Subway, I approached our trip to Lower Manhattan Sunday with a bit of trepidation. As it turns out, I had nothing to fear. The No. 6 Green line was operating just fine and took us to Canal St. without any issues. Upon exiting the station, we stepped into what was truly a foreign world. Everywhere we looked signs covered in Chinese characters and decorations for the Chinese New Year dominated the view. We wandered through what seemed like endless blocks of this vastly larger Chinatown in comparison to our own D.C. version. Lunch was had at a small seafood restaurant while just outside revelers celebrated with drums and poppers.

Ground Zero was our next stop. We approached from Broadway so the first thing we saw was the large memorial photo display at the PATH station. To see those photos with the very hallowed ground behind them was truly moving. As we made our way around the perimeter of the site we stopped at various places such as the Ladder 10 and Engine 10 firehouse which lost five firefighters on 9/11. After making a complete circuit we hopped onto the blue 'E' line running back uptown to our hotel.

Monday was President's Day as well as our last day in New York city. We had hoped to tour the U.N. but it was closed on this seemingly average American holiday. Therefore we decided to go to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). It was bitterly cold, much more so than it had been on any previous day of our trip. What were muddy slush puddles the previous day had frozen overnight to become well-camouflaged sheets of ice making walking all that much more precipitous. But the trip was well worth it as we were treated to such incredible pieces like Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Cans", Dali's "Persistence of Memory" and Van Gogh's "Starry Night".

That afternoon we had a wonderfully long lunch at a Greek restaurant called Meltemi located at 51st and 1st. I then hailed my last NYC taxi and we headed to LaGuardia airport. As I look back on our trip, it is the hectic pace of the city that stands out in my mind. This fast lifestyle that gives New York its motto as the "City that never sleeps" is what makes it so exciting and will keep people like myself coming back.

So long Battlefield 2. Hello World of Warcraft!

In December of 2005, on advice from my buddy Brandon, I picked up a copy of Battlefield 2 and immediately immersed myself into a whole new world of gaming. Whereas my previous vice, Counter Strike: Source, was essentially a repetitive bloodbath this new game required strategy, cunning and teamwork. For about a year, this game kept me entertained what with learning new vehicles and gaining rank. From infantry soldier to general to J-10 pilot, I mastered nearly every aspect of the game and had a lot of fun while doing it.

Yet the entire time there were certain things that bothered me. While the online service was free to use, this also meant that anybody could run their own server. Once the official EA servers went offline, only these user provided ones were available and each had their own unique set of rules they expected users to follow. Oftentimes these rules were lazily enforced and instead used as justification to boot users that the admin simply did not like.

As well, the most important part of the game, teamwork, was one that the game's architecture did not easily facilitate. Users were encouraged to 'squad up' at the start of a round yet they rarely did. So getting on a good team depended more on finding one in the various Internet forums or bringing a group of your real-life friends with you into the game. The latter worked well for me until our group disbanded after which I can count on one hand the number of times I found a good squad to game with.

Contrast this with World of Warcraft, a game which has been out for longer than Battlefield 2 and which I have been avoiding because I've seen just how addicted my friends are. Yet after playing for several weeks, I can see why they are still playing this game over 2 years after it came out. The online service, while somewhat costly at $15/month, is operated solely by Blizzard and thus ensures that no arcane rules by a petty admin will get you booted off of a server.

As for the social aspect of the game, it is light years ahead of Battlefield 2. Support for parties (five people), raids (40 people) and guilds (unlimited) are built right into the game architecture along with easy ways to access them. Early on, the quests that you receive encourage group participation. Since starting play just a few weeks ago, I have lost count of how many times I've relied on complete strangers in my party to help me through a difficult quest. Many of them have ended up on my friends' list which notifies me when they are online. Thus an environment of camaraderie is built around teamwork and it is this feature that will keep users playing WoW for many years to come.

January comes and goes

So the first month of the new year has been pretty crazy as you can guess by the lack of posts. It started off well enough with a party at my buddy Mike's place. He lives just upstairs from me and also works at the same company. It was a James Bond-themed party with all the guys done up like gentlemen and the women dressed to kill. Needless to say, we had an awesome time and I'm looking forward to the next event he hosts.

Work came at me without warning. I thought that with our product having launched in late December, this month might be a bit slower but that turned out to be a fantasy on my part. Unwittingly, I took on the responsibility of creating a browser-based rich text editor for use in many of our products. The one we had just didn't cut it due to cross-browser compatibility issues and customizing it for our needs. I can't say too much more about it now but if possible I would love to see us give back to the open source community by releasing this as a project on Ruby Forge.

But my life hasn't been all work. Play this week came in the form of a Washington Wizards game on Tuesday. My buddy Mario invited me and seeing as I had never been to a basketball game before, much less one in our nation's capital, I eagerly accepted. Mario's friend was the actual ticket holder and we had the benefit of sitting in the Lockheed Martin box right on the half court line. They were some spectacular seats and despite the loss to the Phoenix Suns that night, I nonetheless had a great time.

The end of January is nearly here and will mark the one-year anniversary when I came up to visit my (other) buddy Mike. My stay, brief as it was, left an indelible impression on me, one that would factor into my decision to move up here when a recruiter from Revolution Health came calling only three months later. In the time since, I have truly come to call this place home, more so than any other area I've lived in outside of Southern California. I'm looking forward to a spectacular 2007.

Installing Sirius into a Hyundai Santa Fe

This install was performed on a 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe. While my two previous installs had the benefit of being able to utilize the factory radio, the particulars of this vehicle prevented that. As such, it was necessary to replace the head unit with an after-market stereo. I ordered everything I needed from Crutchfield and I highly recommend going through them if you intend to do the same. On orders over $129, they include everything you need to install the stereo and this came in very useful.

1. Pioneer DEH-P3800MP stereo
2. Pioneer SIR-PNR2 Sirius receiver
3. Hyundai in-dash receiver kit (Crutchfield part no. 003HYK1118)
4. Hyundai wire harness receiver (Crutchfield part no. 120707301)
5. Extra wire (about 16 guage) and butt crimps
6. Wire connectors
   

The first order of business is to disconnect the negative terminal on the battery. Next, remove the components from the center of the dashboard. Start with the environmental controls by removing the ashtray and screws located there. You should be able to reach up and pull this piece out disconnecting the various wires as you go. Now you can remove two vertically-oriented screws that are connected to the top piece. Once this is done remove the piece containing the vents and digital clock.


Taking out the radio is easy now. At this point you'll want to fit your stereo into the in-dash receiver kit and adjust the included trim if necessary. My particular setup required ¼" being taken off of each side in order to get the perfect fit.


Attach the Hyundai wire harness receiver to the plug that was originally plugged into the factory radio. Color match the wires to those on the new head unit and connect them using the wire connectors. Don't worry if not all of the wires are used, just be sure those particular ends are wrapped with electrical tape.


Now we will install the Sirius receiver. You have two options: 1) Place it underneath the passenger seat or 2) Place it underneath the rear passenger seat. There are pros and cons to each but placing it under the rear seat is much tougher.

Attach the blue end of the the IP-bus cable to the back of the receiver in addition to the wire harness and FM radio antenna cable. If are you going for just the passenger seat, route the other end of the IP-bus cable behind the glove compartment, down the side and underneath the door trim which you can simply tuck it under. For those who choose the latter option, the short length of the IP-bus cable requires that you instead route it underneath the center console and carpet leading to the rear passenger seat. You'll need to loosen the center console with a ratchet and run a coat hanger under the carpet if you go with this option.


With the Sirius receiver in place, you now need to hook it up to a power source. While it's possible to reuse the path followed by the IP-bus cable, I highly recommend routing it instead along the driver's side of the car to avoid any possible interference with the signal to the head unit. In addition, this has the benefit of placing the ends of the wire directly next to the fusebox located underneath the steering column on the left side. You'll want to splice in the extra wire at this point so that it is long enough to reach. The wire can tap directly into the fuse labeled "Audio" thus ensuring that the receiver remains on when the stereo is on.


From the rear of the car, route the Sirius antenna wire down through the small space between the rear hatch and the roof. Tuck the wire into the gasket running along the edge towards the passenger side. Have it enter the car through the trim running along the roof edge and snake the wire towards the front. Depending on where you installed the Sirius receiver, route the antenna wire out from the floor through the door trim.


Make sure all wires are attached to their proper components. Reattach the negative terminal on the battery and turn the key to accessory mode. The stereo should start with FM radio selected. Press the volume control knob to select the Sirius receiver as a source. If you see 'SIRIUS' displayed then congratulations, you are ready to activate your unit and listen to the best that satellite radio has to offer.


Questions?
Email me at sean.soper@gmail.com if you have any.

Legal stuff
All brands mentioned in this document are copyright of their respective owners. I am not responsible if your equipment or vehicle malfunctions after following these instructions. You may copy this information as you see fit but please cite this article as a source if you do so.

A Year of Change

This year, if nothing else, has been one of change. In January, I was living in Melbourne, Florida working for a health insurance company. I knew full well that my job would probably be outsourced, or at the very least, reduced in scope but was determined to stick with it. In May, while at a particular low point with my job, I was given the opportunity to pursue my dream; to work in a big city doing software development using what I believe is the future of web application development. Less than two weeks after my interview, I was in Washington, D.C. building a health portal in Ruby on Rails.

The people in my life have also changed. For many of the friends I had in Melbourne, I no longer maintain much contact with them save for an occasional IM or email. But with others, the friendship has blossomed since my leaving and in at least one case, that person has also come to D.C. for economic opportunities, joining the other ex-Melbournites in the area.

But where I have lost friends as a result of my move, I have also gained many in the time since moving here. Work has been a great source of new friendships, one in particular which has blossomed into something unexpectedly beautiful. She has brought something into my life that I didn't think I was ready for, something which I needed more than I realized. I'm looking forward to what this year will bring for both of us.

As I walked down the jetway upon my arrival at Reagan, I realized that it was only six months ago that I left this exact same airport with aspirations of returning. I have, only this time from a place that I've always considered home. Now I have come to call this slice of urban jungle home and I feel more at home here than I ever have outside of California.

No doubt this year will bring more change, some bad and some good. But I will face it with the same tenacity, open-mindedness and positive attitude that I always have.

Blood diamonds and their impact on mainstream America

The latest cause célèbre seems to be blood diamonds. Conflict diamonds, as they are more commonly known, constitute only 1% of the total diamond trade but lately they have been making quite the splash in popular culture. They have been mentioned in media as disparate as Kanye West's song Diamonds from Sierra Leone to Nicholas Cage's movie Lord of War. But none of these works has addressed the issue as directly as Edward Zwick's latest film Blood Diamond.

The film starts out with our archetype hero, Danny Archer, plying his trade in conflict diamonds. Through a series of mishaps, he becomes entangled with a native by the name of Solomon Vandy, whom he agrees to help on condition that he gets access to the near perfect pink diamond that Vandy discovered while working in the slave labor mines of the RUF. Danny will end up using all his contacts and ingenuity to get what he wants but eventually, he does find the diamond.

Yet instead of leading to great wealth, this leads to personal tragedy, at least for Danny. The true hero of this story comes to be Vandy, who escapes to London and eventually gives a speech to the U.N. on the dangers of conflict diamonds. The movie ends on a hopeful note and yet I can't help but be reminded of how similarly themed features were popular in the early 1990s.

At the time, the shrinking rain forest was a global concern and attracted a large amount of attention as a result. Various celebrities spoke out about the issue and some even made movies about it. Yet it hasn't been on the radar of the public for at least a decade. Recent articles suggest that the Amazon is disappearing at twice the rate as previously estimated. Being the perpetual optimist, I can only hope that the issue of blood diamonds is resolved rather than forgotten about as other important global issues have been.

A Tenacious D weekend

With my company's product growing closer to launch, I was busier than ever the first full week of December. When Saturday finally came, it was a welcome relief from the hustle and bustle of writing and testing code. This weekend was especially anticipated because it was set to be a Tenacious D weekend.

I don't consider myself a fan of the D but not because I don't like their music. In fact, I think it's great stuff but I've just never taken the time to listen to much more than what my friends have recommended. The first time I heard about their new song "Pick of Destiny" was on Sirius Alt Nation, which has been playing it seemingly non-stop for the past month in anticipation of the movie by the same title. When my friend Beth said she was getting tickets for their upcoming concert show at the GMU Patriot Center, I made sure to get my name in. She took it even further by organizing an outing on Saturday to go see the movie.

Despite being nearly 40 minutes late to the theater, I walked in right when the film started thanks to a series of delays on the part of the projectionist. I went into the movie with no expectations whatsoever and came out with a much greater understanding of what the D is about. The rock opera, for lack of a better term, is a fictional retelling of how Jack Black and Kyle Gass met, formed the band and eventually did battle with Satan. It had its share of laughs and featured cameos by the likes of Ben Stiller, Tim Robbins and several others.

The next night we continued our Tenacious D experience. First stop was Beth's new place in Alexandria which she shared with a roommate. This roommate has a fridge literally stocked to the brim with beer and a stand-up arcade machine with every awesome game on it from 1980 to the early 1990s. We whittled away the time drinking and playing video games from our childhood.

At about 7pm, we headed on over to the Patriot Center and got there just in time for the start of the opening act. It was Neil Hamburger, a somewhat well-known comic who goes for laughs in a roundabout way. Essentially, he told really bad jokes while loudly clearing his throat between each telling. This one was a real gem:

Why did the Taliban burn 200 copies of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album? Well, because their music sucked.

Ha ha! I consider myself a Pink Floyd fan and even I thought that was funny. Maybe it was the beer. Oh well, he wasn't on stage much more than 20 minutes and then the real act began.

Jack Black and Kyle Gass appeared with a couch behind them, acting for all the world as if they were in their living room. They played a few sets until quite accidentally, they were electrocuted and woke up to found themselves in the pits of hell. Once there, they decided to make the best of their situation and gather the most awesome band members they could. They went with the Antichrist, Charlie Chaplin and Colonel Sanders, all of whom were available and willing to play with them. Together they rocked the house, did battle with Satan and made prolific use of the F word. In a sense, the concert was a live version of their movie, albeit with less special effects.

Their encore performance included songs off their previous CD plus some covers of songs from The Who. In fact, the very last song they played was "Listening to you" off the Tommy album. Perhaps these musical geniuses were paying homage to the masterpiece that gave birth to the rock opera genre. Whatever their motives, it was an incredible concert that has left an indelible imprint on me.

Mario's last day at work

When I first started at my current company, I was placed in the Ruby group working on community-oriented features. At that time we were a mishmash of Ruby, Java and Python but eventually the scope was reduced such that Java was nearly taken out of the picture all together. As a result, many of the Java programmers found themselves without much work to do and so they picked up a Ruby book and started reading.

Within a few weeks they were all up to speed and cranking out code. Slowly, we stopped seeing each other as Ruby vs. Java and begin to identify instead with the product we were working on. Old alliances gave way to new ones and people who I had once thought of as hostile seemed much more amicable.

One of these formerly hostile types was a guy named Mario. His height and booming voice combined to make him stand out in our colorless cube farm. He also had a strange occupation with a place called Java Green where he went everyday for lunch and returned boasting of their tofu chicken and rice bowl. I eventually accompanied him on one of these outings and offered him my advice on which Ruby book was best for a beginner with lots of Java experience.

That was nearly three months ago and in the time since we've become great friends. From late nights at work writing "f'ing migrations", as he so eloquently put it, to clubbing at 1223 across the street, we've certainly had an interesting past couple of months. And despite that his new job is way out in the 'burbs, I am confident that we will remain great friends.

Mario, you will be missed.

Hustle and bustle

Last week was quite busy for me so let me see if I can provide a quick rundown. Monday I think was my only down day, if you could apply such a label to a day that starts at 7am and ends somewhere around 12am. The next morning I was up bright and early to go vote for progressive change at the ballot box. Though I was dismayed to see the amendment banning gay marriage pass, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Jim Webb, a Democrat, would be Virgnia's newest Senator. He has an excellent record and I think he'll represent us well.

Tuesday evening I went see Death Cab for Cutie at DAR Constitution Hall. I didn't know very many of their songs aside from what I'd heard on Alt Nation but it was a pretty good concert regardless. Afterwards, while walking to the Archives metro stop, I spoke to my parents on my cell phone and learned of the Democrats impending victory just as I was passing by the White House. This caused me to make an impromptu demonstration right there, in the general direction of the west wing. It was a small "gesture", most likely noticed by no one, but it felt good nonetheless.

Wednesday looked to be winding down to a calm evening until Sanjeev, the recruiter that brought me to my current company and in general a cool guy to hang out with, invited me to a happy hour at Science Club just down the street. I figured I could go there for a few beers keeping in mind that I had a dentist appointment early the next morning. I ended up staying a bit later and having a really great time as many of the faces there were familiar. Jayashri was there too which was awesome since she lives all the way up in Columbia.

Finally, the day I had been dreading arrived. Two weeks previous, I had gone into the dentist for a routine cleaning only to find out that I had a slight case of gingivitis on my back molars. Now don't panic people, it's actually more common than you think. Probably even more so for those of us with less-than-stellar dentists who never alerted us to the issue. Fortunately, I'm with a great dentist now although I wasn't heaping such praise on them while they did what's called a "deep cleaning" on my gums. The local anesthesia helped but the best solution would have been a better brushing regimen so that I could have avoided the entire issue. So remember kids, don't forget to floss!

Any free time I had this past week was spent playing with my newest toy, a MacBook Pro. That's right, I've opted to convert to the "other" platform and I am not looking back. After hearing that such Ruby luminaries like DHH himself used a Mac and seeing so many of my co-workers using them, I decided to take the plunge. I'll write a full length article on it sometime in the next few weeks. For now, rest assured that this platform is absolutely amazing to work with for both development and daily computer use.

This week is looking to be just as hectic, though hopefully less painful, than last week. I just got back from seeing my buddy Steve out in Fairfax where he's staying for the next few days while he's in town for work. Tomorrow I'll be taking in an opera and Thursday through Sunday is booked solid with various dinner parties and get togethers. After that it's Thanksgiving and then onto December!

How to throw a Guy Fawkes party

Remember, remember the fifth of November
The Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.
I see no reason why the gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

401 years ago, a group of conspirators attempted to blow up the English parliament. Their demolitions expert, a man by the name of Guy Fawkes, was caught with several barrels of explosives beneath the building, ready to set them off. From there the entire conspiracy fell apart with most of the participants being hanged, including Guy Fawkes. I first read of the event on Wikipedia a few years ago but it wasn't until I saw V for Vendetta that I was inspired to do more.

By more, I don't mean anything political of course but instead something more celebratory. In this case, a dinner party. I prepared five separate courses and invited a gaggle of friends over. Authentic English beer in the form of Guinness and Boddington's Pub ale were made available. I had also planned on us watching the aforementioned movie but time constraints on a Sunday evening meant everybody leaving by about 9:30pm.

1. Welsh rabbit
2. Cornish pasty
3. Steak and kidney pie
4. Veggie bangers
5. Old-fashioned carrot pudding

The courses listed above all turned out great and I ended up with tons of leftovers. It was my first time cooking authentic English meals and as one of my friends so assiduously put it, the food was 'quite dense'. Unfortunately some of the other things that go along with the celebration, such as fireworks and the burning of a Guy Fawkes effigy, were not possible due to local ordinances. But we had a great time nonetheless and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.

The Drunk Train

I've boasted before of being on the last train back to Virginia but in fact I was probably a good one or two trains ahead of the last one. But this past Saturday (or very early Sunday morning, depending on how you look at it) I truly was on the last one. I was out with a friend in Adams Morgan that night and while tucked away on a couch at Tryst, I suddenly realized what time it was and that we had to get back to the Metro ASAP lest we be at the mercy of the DC cab driver.

We got to the Dupont Circle station with only four minutes to spare before the next red line train, which would only take me as far as Metro Center. I wasn't even sure if there would be one waiting there to take me back to Crystal City. But as I stepped onto the train and waved goodbye to my friend on the opposite platform, I realized that I had stepped into a different world.

Now my time on the Metro is typically spent in either quiet solitude reading or conversing with my friends at a subdued volume level. By contrast, this train had the noise level of a rock concert. Just as many people were standing as were sitting, each yelling to be overhead above the din. Some were even doing shots which got whoops of encouragement and rounds of applause from the other passengers. I could not believe my eyes as I had finally arrived at the place I'd only heard about in legend: The Drunk Train.

Like freedom, The Drunk Train is more of an idea than an actual thing. It almost always inhabits the last train of the night and moves from line to line depending on where the crowd goes. Fortunately, the majority of them were heading towards Virginia and so at Metro Center we all got onto the orange line to continue the debauchery. The thick wall that city dwellers typically erect around themselves during normal hours had been breached by booze making conversation plentiful and enjoyable.

I didn't get back to my apartment until almost 3:30am thanks to delays and transfers but quite honestly I didn't care. I had such a great time just talking to people and getting to know them that I could definitely see myself doing it again. The Drunk Train is something that everybody should do at least once in their lifetime.

Capping off a great week

So this week actually went pretty well. Work was a bit exhausing but the grind was interrupted on Tuesday when my co-worker Georgios suggested we hit Front Page just up the street after work. My friend Reshma had texted me just shortly beforehand curious if I was up for Gazuza, which of course I always am. So after about an hour at Front Page, Georgios and I headed over to Gazuza.

We had a great time there although we had somewhat of a strange conversation. Somehow we got on the topic of Freemasons, secret societies and their influence on Washington, D.C. Needless to say, several hours passed seemingly in the blink of an eye and before I knew it, I had to run so I could catch the last Metro back to Virginia. I woke up the next morning tired and bleary-eyed but not at all guilty about partying mid-week.

Friday started out in Alexandria with my friend Chelcia. We wandered around the King Street area but not for long as it was too cold out for these two recent Floridian transplants. She had to work early the next morning so we made our goodbyes at around 10pm whereupon I raced into the district to meet up with Georgios. He had been saving a parking spot for me near his place, literally fending off other potential parkers with the wild waving of his arms. After getting the parking situation settled, we headed off to McFadden's where we met up with Michael and had an absolute blast.

Saturday began at Rio Grande in Clarendon with Mike (not the same Michael previously mentioned) and his girlfriend Jocelyn. After a few margaritas, we took the Metro into DC to meet up with Greg, Teresa and her friends at Brickskeller. This is the place that has a thousand different types of beer yet that night I was in the mood for some Unibroue. I started off with a Maudite and then tried their Don De Dieu before moving onto some of their other products. I love high-alcohol content beers and Unibroue is especially talented at making them.

We ended Saturday night at Julia's Empenadas at around 1:30am where everybody scarfed down on the warm and tasty puff pastries. It seems that every week here in DC, no matter how planned it may seem at the outset, ends up completely different than how I envisioned. Yet my penchant for meticulous planning seems to not mind the random bar outings and meetups. In fact, it is the randomness that I have come to rely on for my nightlife.

Tanqueray Rangpur

I first started drinking gin about six years ago while at Purdue. My friend Brent introduced me to it and we quickly went through an assortment of brands before finally settling on our top three. These were Bombay Sapphire, Tanqueray and Citadel, all of them excellent gins. Over the years I eventually came to drinking just Bombay Sapphire while occasionally dabbling in other brands such as Tower of London.

But earlier this month it came to my knowledge that Tanqueray was releasing a new variant of their world-famous gin and only in Washington, DC with select areas in Maryland and Delaware. It was a sign from God if I'd ever seen one. So last week on my way home from work, I stopped by the liquor store across the street from my metro stop in the District and picked up a bottle. It was only $22 for a 750ml, comparable to my regular Bombay Sapphire, and as for the taste, well read on.

Gin truly is an acquired taste. Many of my friends have compared it to mouth wash, pine needles or jet fuel, all of them apt descriptions if you're not a fan of the stuff. And even for us connoisseurs, drinking it with tonic is seen as the best way to casually enjoy it. But Tanqueray Rangpur is different. Following the advice of a local blogger, I poured it straight over ice. The taste was much lighter than what I expected. I'd never had a Rangpur lime before but I imagine their complimentary flavors to gin was discovered early on. The whiff of botanicals was there but not nearly as strong as expected. Tastewise it was very smooth yet retained the characteristics of its worldly heritage.

Already my life has been subtly altered by the discovery of this new gin. While hanging out at a bar in Clarendon the other night I caught myself asking for a Tanqueray Rangpur straight up, momentarily forgetting that it was available only in DC until February of next year when it goes into general release. I, for one, will be counting down the days.

Dad at Fogo de Chão

What started out as a promising week work-wise turned sour Monday evening when I had to stay until 8pm to help fix a bug. It wasn't a huge deal really but I don't like to leave a situation unresolved, even if I'm not the cause of it. I put in some long hours Tuesday as well but Wednesday I made a point of leaving early, around 5:30pm, so I could go meet my Dad for dinner.

He was in town for work so along with a co-worker of his named Ken, we met up at McCormick & Schmick's in Crystal City for drinks. I was thinking we could just do dinner in the Arlington area but Ken had heard about a Brazilian restaurant in DC that he wanted to try. Right away I knew what he was talking about: the famous rodizio Fogo de Chão on Pennsylvania Avenue. I'd actually been there before back in February when I was visiting the area and was quite fond of their authentic selection despite the lack of chicken hearts.

Rather than hop back on the Metro, we got in the Audi and headed over there where we spent a good 10 minutes looking for parking before finally giving up and just paying for a garage. The meal we had was truly sumptuous, fit for a king really. My Portuguese was a bit rusty but I managed to order a few things in the native tongue including one of the best caipivodkas I've ever had.

Dinner was followed by a quick tour of northwest DC and a discussion about why there were so many cops on Connecticut Avenue and 17th Street. My theory was that this was the route intended to take either Hamid Karzai or Perez Musharraf (or both) back to their residences as they were dining at the White House that night. We didn't stick around long enough to find out.

Though I was sad to see my Dad off at his hotel, I was also happy that I got to see him at all. Living so far away from California, it's not often that I get to see friends and family from home. This Christmas will mark the first time in a year that I've been back and I'm looking forward to it with great fanfare.

The Virgin Music Fest

On Saturday, my friends Reshma, Shayan, Faheem and myself drove up to Pimlico field outside Baltimore, Maryland to attend the 1st annual Virgin Music Fest. We met up with another cohort upon arrival, Seema, who came in from New York, and made our way to the event. The venue was divided into three areas with the well-known acts happening at the Grandstand stage at one end and lesser known acts appearing at the Clubhouse stage on the other side of the track. A large tent called the Darkhouse Dance tent played host to various DJs while a smaller tent called the Freaklounge had a running show of sideshow-esque acts throughout the day.

Our first event was Wolfmother which came on the Grandstand stage at 1pm. I'd heard their song Woman a number of times on Octane but not much else. They were actually quite good and their hard rocking chords evoked a late 70s, perhaps early 80s metal sound. But we couldn't stay too long as Reshma wanted to go check out The New Pornographers on the Clubhouse stage. A fairly large band at eight members, they put on a great show and definitely got me intrigued in their particular style.

The next two acts we saw were the Raconteurs and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, both on opposite stages. I honestly lost count of how many times we went back and forth. It seemed that near the end of every show there was a great exodus to the other side of the field, followed by a reversal not long after. Anyways, the next band to come on the Grandstand stage was Gnarls Barkley and they were just amazing. Apparently they have a new theme for every show and this one was Chariots of Fire so they dressed appropriately in Roman-esque garb. They played a ton of great material and closed on Crazy, an absolutely fantastic song to hear live.

The Brazilian Girls were the next to appear on the smaller Clubhouse stage. Shayan is a big fan of theirs and he was bowled over by their performance. Contrary to their name, none of the members are Brazilian and only one, the lead singer, is a girl. During the performance, she had this white latex mask on and would apply make-up to it between songs. I only stayed for a few songs before heading over to see The Killers on the main stage. Now I'd been looking forward to this as they were played frequently on both Octane and Alt Nation. They played all the big hits from their first album like Somebody Told me and Mr. Brightside and even included songs from their upcoming one, most notably Bones. These guys were amazing and I would definitely pay to see them again live.

At this point, we headed back towards the smaller stage to see Thievery Corporation. After about 20 minutes there, Seema said that she wanted to go see The Who. Nobody else seemed interested so the two of us headed back to the big stage. We got there just in time to see Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, the only remaining original members of The Who, plus a bassist, keyboarder and drummer put on what I can only describe as the greatest rock show I've ever seen. I'm a big fan of the group but nothing could have prepared me for this performance.

The vocals from both Daltrey and Townshend were spot-on and whenever Townshend did his famous "windmill" on the guitar, the crowd went nuts. I found it gratifying that the same band my Dad was such a big fan of could still rock the hell out of a venue like this one. People young and old, myself and Seema included, were screaming at the top of their lungs. Baba O'Riley, Behind Blue Eyes and My Generation were just a few of the hits that they played. I'd been hoping for something from Tommy so when I heard the opening notes to Pinball Wizard I thought I was going to lose it. They closed the show on Listening to You/See Me, a truly mesmerizing performance.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers came on at 8:30pm and, including their encore performance, rocked the crowd for nearly two hours. They played a good number of hits, most of them from Californication and By the Way. The only disappointment was that they didn't play Under the Bridge. Otherwise though it was a great show and definitely a great closer to what was a top-notch music festival. This was the 1st one in the US but I hope Virgin continues to bring this great event stateside year after year.

Frankenstein

Tonight my cousin Katy and I had the pleasure of watching Frankenstein on stage at the Kennedy Center. This interpretation wavered little from the original and the set itself was very minimal. A large chain-like mesh hanging from a drop and a small raised platform, both of which were far upstage, were the only permanent fixtures on the simple black setting. With the exception of the occasional prop that was rolled out, this left nearly the entire area open for the actors to perform. Dry ice was also put to heavy use.

The story starts out in the far north aboard Captain Walton's ship, beleagured by ice floes. Sighting a distant figure, he sends out a party to investigate and they return with Victor Frankenstein. The rescued man proceeds to tell the story of his fascination with medieval alchemy and how it led to the realization that he could apply his knowledge to create life from death. The resultant monster kills his mentor, Professor Waldman, and goes on a rampage through the town before finally making his way to Victor's home in Geneva, Switzerland. He then kills Victor's closest friends and family after having been refused by Victor the creation of a synthetic companion.

At this point, Victor gives chase eventually ending up on the same ice floes as the captain's ship. Shortly after retelling his tale, Victor dies of exhaustion and the creature, having lost his only connection to the world, recovers the body. The captain takes this as an omen and sets sail for home. The last thing the sailors see as they depart the forbidding waters is the creature mourning over the loss of his creator.

The acting was absolutely top-notch. Dan Istrate seemed born for the part of Victor Frankenstein. The energy he brought to the stage plus his haunting features created a performance matched only by his co-star, Irakli Kavsadze, who played the creature. Irakli's hulking appearance and heavy makeup didn't dull his obvious talent and stage presence. The only issue I might mention are the slow-motion bits, especially during the fight scenes, which seemed somewhat contrived. Otherwise, this was an awesome performance that I would highly recommend.

The beauty of Suse with XGL

From the day I got my first company computer, I've always wanted the ability to put whatever OS I choose onto it. Naturally, certain elements within the IT department made it their goal in life to thwart such efforts in favor of uniformity. So when I started work at my current company, I was surprised to find out that I could install any OS I wanted though my PC came pre-installed with Windows XP.

Being a big fan of Suse, I immediately installed 10.1 in a dual-boot configuration but that was the extent of my efforts. By the end of my second day, I was already assigned a large task with a quickly approaching deadline and I simply didn't have the time to set up Suse the way I wanted. And so it languished like that for a few months until recently when it became imperative that I switch to a non-Windows OS.

The trepidation I had felt at having to setup my Linux environment dissapated as I rediscovered just how enjoyable it was to be using an industrial-strength OS again. Additionally, I became more productive thanks to quicker build times and a programmer-friendly interface. But not settling for just the basic setup, I went further and begin installing what could only be deemed as frivolous, though not unnecessary in my opinion.

MPlayer was one of the first optional components to get setup, quickly followed by Plugger and a few other goodies so that I could listen to Sirius. To complement my listening selection, I also downloaded Amarok thus enabling me to enjoy my personal music collection. So that I could make the most of my video card, I compiled the ATI drivers and setup a wicked screen saver. I even installed Google Earth so I could take full advantage of my newly enabled 3D effects.

But by far the coolest thing I installed was XGL. I had made a half-hearted attempt about a week ago at installing it but it wasn't until I walked in this morning and saw my co-worker Grant running it that I finally decided to 'git er done'. Knowing that he was running Gentoo, I figured it had to be much easier in Suse and indeed it was. After about 30 minutes of downloading packages and reading various docs, I finally had it up and running although it took another hour of configuration before I was truly pleased with the results.

Having used XGL for only about half a day, I can honestly say that it is quite possibly one of the coolest desktop experiences ever. Even my co-workers using Aqua on their Macs were impressed and made a point to stop by and check out what a true 3D desktop looked like. Back here at home, being on a standard '2D' desktop, I feel a bit constrained. So I think I'll sign off on this entry and go install XGL.