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So I’m heading to my 5th high school reunion after work tomorrow. The school’s been kind enough to post a list of who’s coming and it looks like about a third of my class will be there. There are some folks who I was close with and haven’t seen since graduation and other folks who I knew but never had much to do with while we were in school. Looking at the list, I can honestly says there’s nobody on it who I’m violently opposed to seeing.

One of my goals for this weekend is to not touch a computer. No web. No e-mail. No games. No code. Since I am going straight from work, I’ll have my laptop with me and I believe there are an abundance of Ethernet jacks around the school (it’s a three day affair, so it’s not like I’d be cutting out on dinner to check m-mail). However, the since I haven’t seen many of these people in years and it will probably be years before I see them again, the thought of spending time in front of a monitor just seems wrong.

It should be a good time and we’ll see how my no-computer pledge goes, considering I’ve will-power issues in the past…

My brother’s fairly happy with me right now. I just found out the upcoming Red Sox — Astros game I have tickets to falls during my high school reunion. Since my brother and I went in 50/50 on a 4 game ticket pack and there will be about 400 Red Sox games before my next high school reunion, I decided to see if I could swap games with him.

The end result: he gets to see Jimy Williams’ first return to Fenway since the Sox fired him two seasons ago in addition to a Sox — Yankees game later this year. I get a game against the hapless Devil Rays in addition to the Kansas City game I wrote about last month.

Next year, I think I’ll be the one to order the tickets…

I went to see The Matrix Reloaded on Thursday, but I’ve been running around so much that I haven’t been able to write about it till today.

I generally enjoyed the movie. The previews that said the Wachowski brothers had caught Lucas’ syndrome and gone CGI-mad at the expense of plot were completely off base. Sure, it wasn’t as jaw-dropping as the first movie, but at the time none of us knew what to expect.

The Zion scene was definitely goofy. While watching it, I kept thinking of the dance/orgy scene from the Dune mini-series.

Jason Kottke was disappointed by the special effects in the Neo vs. 100 Agent Smiths scene. I didn’t think they were terrible, but I did think there was something off about the characters’ facial features. Of course, I could have just been having difficulty comprehending something so unreal.

Buzz Anderson has some more thoughts on the middle third of the Matrix trilogy, including a conclusion I missed but, in retrospect, probably should have caught. If you haven’t seen the movie, Buzz’es entry contains some spoilerage.

Well, I just made the first “Big Ticket” purchase during the “Employed” phase of my life. I’ve certainly spent money since I started getting paid regularly (the iPod and the PS2 come to mind), but nothing like this. That’s right, I bought my first new car.

It’s a Sapphire Blue Perl Honda Accord Coupe EX. For kicks, I threw in the fog lights and spoiler. I’ve been driving a 1995 GMC Jimmy SLT for the last 4.5 years, so driving a compact car again is going to be really fun. My folks gave me a lift to the dealership because I wasn’t trading in the Jimmy and I had the stupidest grin on my face the whole way back to my apartment from their house because I was having so much fun driving.

I ended up selling the Jimmy to friends of my family who have a daughter starting college in Vermont next fall, so I know it will be well-used. I’ve got to say, as nice as it is to buy my first new car, it’s also nice to actually sell my old car, as opposed to having the insurance company say “Yup, it’s totaled. Here’s your check.”

I’ll try to get some pics later, when it’s light outside.

I just signed up for my 5th high school reunion. I’m still trying to figure out where the time’s gone.

Answer: A living room full of damp clothes.
Question: What is what happens when Eric starts coding and forgets about his laundry until after the laundry room closes.

There are times I wish I had a digital camera. I’m not sure if this is one of those times

Martin Schwimmer:

Now here’s ambush marketing.  Pepsi owns the naming rights to an arena in Albany that will host part of the NCAA Tournament. Coke is sponsoring the Tournament itself. The Pepsi signage will be covered up.

I’d normally find this ironic, but since I went to college about 20 minutes from the Pepsi Arena, I also found it highly amusing.

For the few years prior to my graduation, RPI held it’s graduation ceremony at the Pepsi. Officially, it was moved onto the campus soccer field because the administration thought the student body would appreciate graduating at the place they’d spent the last 4 years. Unofficially, from a friend who worked at the Pepsi Arena, RPI waited too long to book the arena and the date was taken by the time somebody decided to call the Pepsi Arena.

After a blunder like this, karma indicates that it must snow. And hail. In May. Needless to say, chaos ensued.

Stories like this bring me back to those… happy… days.

Normally I wouldn’t blog my own birthday, but I’m amused that it’s such a crowded day:

• Happy Birthday Uncle Steve — you got your present when I was born 24 years ago.
• It’s Doc Searls Mom’s 90th birthday.
• And there’s Steven Frank’s Dad.

Also, my cousin Alex was born 2 days too soon to take part in the festivities, but what the heck — happy belated birthday, kid.

Anybody else out there? Pop into the comments and say hi!

Earlier tonight, I completed my Referee Grade 8 class work and as a result, I’m now certified to officiate youth soccer games in Massachusetts. This was an idea I’d been toying with for a while, but I never got around to it. About a month ago, I decided I was going to do it and that I’d pass the test an early birthday present to myself (birthday’s tomorrow and, yes, it would have really sucked if I failed the test).

Now, I get to be the idiot who made the terrible call or missed the mugging that happened behind the play. Strangely enough, I’m actually looking forward to it.

On Thursday, my friends and I learned you don’t joke around with the border patrol. That, however, is a rather long story that sort of loses something if you don’t know everybody involved, so you get this pithy little tale from our trip back into the States this afternoon.

We spent most of our drive time listening to various CDs, including one of my favorite driving discs, Eve 6’s self-title release. Pulling out of the Duty Free store, the U.S. Border Station is in sight. Almost simultaneously, traffic stops and Open Road Song starts pouring out of the speakers. From that point, it was over an hour until we reached the border patrol.

Ah, the dear sweat irony of it all.