Weekend

Friday - after work, Allison and I took my parents out to dinner at Copper for my mom's birthday. Since they recently 'discovered' Indian food it was good that they see what's possible with it - Indian ingredients, modern presentations - they had a positive opinion of the place. Afterwards Allison and I went to the Lotus concert - which gets more impressive the more I hear from them - even if they have somewhat abandoned the chill-jamband sound in favor of a funk-rock-electronic sound - still - it moves people - and sounds great at way too loud volumes.

Saturday - Errands, yardwork, cooked for Allison and Marcus/Claudia - well, I won't take credit for the sauce beyond the conceptual level, but it worked overall.

Sunday - Installed a programmable thermostat - the ultimate obsessive piece of household electronics - you get 4 time blocks per day, with each day of the week having a separate program - and it's all digital. So it can be 73 degrees from midnight to 6am, then 75 degrees from 6am to 8am, then 80 degrees to save energy when I'm not home from 8am to 6pm, then 74 degrees from 6pm to midnight. Then entirely different tuesday if I want. This kind of precise detailing/customization makes me happy.

Then there were some more errands, and dinner at the Philosopher's Stone with Allison and Daniel - mainly chosen for the fried zucchini sticks and the excellent patio. Live music, perfect weather, good beer and food - what more could you possibly want out of a dining experience.

This week - my new watch is here to be picked up tomorrow - it's entirely mechanical - and Russian - the engineering nerd in me is excited:  old swiss engineering using a more affordable manufacturing model. (i.e. - sweep second hand, day and date, using a hand-wound mechanism - all for one tenth the price of an equivalent swiss made brand) Hope it lives up to the concept.