more recent
12/29: Caught the James Bond film "Casino Royale" at the BPL. It's a bit disappointing how ponderously predictable Bond movies have become. Isn't their unpredictability what made them interesting in the first place?
12/28: Read Jamie Smith's amusing and informative book "Roadie: The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer". It gave me a number of topics that I hope to cover for people in next year's PMC ride report.
12/23: With ample time on my hands now, I made a holiday expedition back down to Foxwoods Resort Casino with my buddy Jer, playing an up and down series at the blackjack table, but finally emerging triumphant again.
12/22: Checked out the sparsely-attended December version of the monthy poly dinner hosted by Poly Boston's Jay Sekora. Due to the crowds at the usual spot, we wound up at the Supper Shack (sic), but I was able to find something non-seafood on the menu.
12/21: One of my photographs of Grady "praying" appeared on NECN's show "The Secret Life of Animals". Now he's more famous than I am!
12/20: Met new friend Mary at Peet's in Harvard Square.
12/18: Had a great dinner catching up with old friend Heather and her new husband Mark at Davis Square's Joshua Tree pub. Sadly, none of the Belhaven on tap for me this time...
12/17: 
Given the terrible state of the economy, it wasn't a surprise when Optaros announced layoffs. After more than two years there, I'll miss the friends I made and the fun we had while crafting solutions for our clients.
12/14: Participated in my first game of Diplomacy in many years, making the trek over to Cambridge's Pandemonium Books for a game organized by the Massachusetts Diplomacy List. As Russia, I played a mostly defensive, balance of power game that kept me alive, but without growing.
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 12/13: Walked over to the BPL to catch a showing of Gary Hustwit's documentary about the fifty year old modern typeface known as Helvetica. It showed the contrasting viewpoints of designers who value its Swiss/Bauhaus aesthetic versus those who see it as a faceless, corporate, mechanical evil. It really made me miss my time spent as a graphic designer.
11/9: Had a blast breaking out my stick for an evening at Boston Billards with the Optaros crew.
 11/6: It seems fitting that my final act for DargonZine, the Internet magazine and writers' group I founded 24 years ago, would be having a story printed. "The Farewell Tour" is nothing more ambitious than a detailed walking tour of the city of Dargon by someone leaving that place forever as life takes him elsewhere. You can read "The Farewell Tour" as part of DargonZine 21-4, which came out today.
 11/19: Finished reading my birthday present from Inna: Peter Harvey's excellent "An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics: Foundations, Values and Issues", which does an excellent job of contrasting the diverse branches of Buddhist practice and their responses to ethical dilemmas such as suicide, abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, and so forth.
 11/9: After nine grueling days, the CIMC "sandwich retreat" came to a close. It was rewarding, but very mentally draining. (writeup)
 11/6: Although I missed this year's Pan-Mass Challenge check presentation, I couldn't be prouder of the record $35 million that we raised for cancer research. My fundraising this year was also a personal record: just shy of $12,000. That brings my lifetime fundraising after eight rides to over $44,500! (press release)
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 11/5: Ten days after my first eye exam in decades, I went back to Vision North to pick up my new reading glasses. How do they look to you?
11/4: I finally got the chance to exercise my right to vote out the torture, lies, and demagoguery of the Bush administration. And with a historic landslide in favor of Barack Obama, it was the first time I've been proud of my country in eight long years.
11/1: Started the nine-day "sandwich retreat" at CIMC.
 10/31 Went to work with a mascara black eye and "SP" written backwards on my cheek as a Halloween costume in parody of the painfully stupid antics of a bigoted Texas bimbo named Ashley Todd.
10/29: Started a big milestone birthday out with food quests to Fastachi nuts in Watertown and vanilla loaf from Hi-Rise Bread Co. in Cambridge. Then down to Foxwoods, where raked in the cash and enjoyed my best day ever at the blackjack table.  On the way home, stopped and hiked around beautiful Purgatory Chasm (photos). Back in town, I picked up free Thai food at Rock Sugar (thanks to my frequent-curry card), and then a sitting and dharma talk at CIMC. Quite a memorable day!
10/27 Went to Vision North to have my first eye exam in almost ever, with the expected result: after decades of perfect vision, I finally need reading glasses.
10/3: Enjoyed a couple nights shooting LightBoston's IlluminaleBOSTON  event, as well as meeting up with other Flickr Boston Photo Mob photographers. Not thrilled with the results I got, but it's a learning process. You can see the results here.
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