3/3: Stood in line for three hours before spending about the same amount of time touring the hangar and flight decks of CV-67, the USS John F. Kennedy, a 40 year old, 1052-foot, 82,000 ton Navy aircraft carrier which stopped in Boston as its last port of call before decommissioning. photos

2/19: Brunch at Pamela's on the Strip, then some spicy fun at Penzey's, and an early dinner at Mad Mex before hopping a plane back to Boston.

2/18: Had brunch with Inna, Monika, Greg, and Faye at the Square Cafe, and later dinner at India Garden, in addition to some quality time with Kuzia, Keesa, and Theo.

2/17: Flew out to Pittsburgh for a weekend with Inna, with snow on my heels. After a bit of a detour toward Erie, we had burgers at Max & Erma's.

2/17: My first project for my new employer was a requirements workshop in Boise Idaho for iQuestions.com, who successfully went live today.

2/16: Another anniversary: today marks five years since I joined LiveJournal. With over 500 posts in ornoth and ornoth_cycling, I'm pretty happy with the results.

2/14: It's hard to believe, but today–Valentine's Day–is the 25th anniversary of meeting my first love, Ailsa, who has been one of the most important and influential people in my life.

2/13: Went over to the Blue Room in Kendall Square with everyone from work for a team event.

2/7: Attended an interesting dharma talk at CIMC on socially engaged Buddhism by civil rights activist and Wesleyan professor of religion and social sciences Jan Willis.

2/6: Took my friend Janine out to dinner for her birthday at the Cheesecake Factory in the Prudential Mall.

2/4: Avoided the Super Bowl and had a fabulous meal at Boston's Montien Thai restaurant. Great food, if you can get ignore the surreal helium-induced laughter that pervades the place.

2/2: I picked up my first Terry Pratchett novel on July 9, 1985, and since then he's been one of my few literary vices. Today I finished reading a 30th book of his, another Discworld novel entitled "Thud!".

1/29: After work I moseyed over to MIT to catch a talk about emerging Web technology Ruby on Rails by my mightily skilled former coworker Rajiv Manglani.

1/24: There aren't many books that focus on the important part of blackjack: betting strategies, which is why I picked up Frits Dunki-Jacobs' "Betting on Blackjack", which has given me another potentially useful weapon in the arsenal of freedom!

1/19: After 25 years on the Internet and about 15 years on the Web, I finally secured my own domain name. There's nothing there yet, but stand by for a new and updated OrnothLand to appear at ornoth.com!

1/13: After Xmas I went out and bought all kinds of stuff that had been languishing on my Amazon Wish List, including Kojiro Ikegami's "Japanese Bookbinding: Instructions from a Master Craftsman", which I finished reading today.

1/10: completed "Andy Pruitt's Complete Medical Guide for Cyclists", which had some useful information, but could have gone further. It spent a lot of time talking about the importance of fit, orthotics, physiological testing, and how to deal with injuries, none of which helps me all that much.

1/3: This year's dietary resolution is to eat vegetarian one day per week. I survived my first vegetarian day by having lentil soup and a salad with clients at Boston Beer Works.

1/1: I've read a lot of Buddhist treatises over the past four years, but none have made me laugh so much as this Xmas gift: Ichi Su's loving, tongue-in-cheek biography of the infamous and immaterial "Life and Letters of Tofu Roshi".