Author: ryan

Well,week w/o posting again. Here's a quick recap. Tuesday I met Snooks at Kennedy School for a little bit, finally feeling well enough by this point that I needed to go out and have a couple beers. Thursday, met up with Snooks again, and my brother Travis, at Moon & Sixpence. Hadn't been there in a little while, and they had finally gotten Smithwick's in again (a really delicious Irish ale, slightly on the malty side, and overall quite delicious).

Yesterday was the last day for a coworker of mine (sniff) who is leaving SuperSweetCo to pursue a writing career. After work the company threw a happy hour in the break room (people mixing 'chocolate martinis') for my departing comrade. At around 6pm Kelly joined us when she got into town, and by 7pm it was down to about 7 of us. Most of my coworkers decided to go get sushi, but my manager wanted everybody to meet later at Moon & Sixpence. I figured, "Two nights in a row at Moon? Sure, no problem!" so Kelly and I went straight there, got a table and got some dinner. My coworkers were to meet us at about 9pm. By 9:45 they still hadn't arrived and Kelly and I were feeling pretty tired (probably a combination of the long work week, the beers, and the food). We waited until about 10pm before we bailed, and I texted my manager to let him know. He texted me back, I guess they were just on their way, and said something about dinner taking forever (can it really take that long to eat food that doesn't even have to spend any time cooking? hehe), but by that point we were on the road for home.

I fell asleep on the couch at around 11pm, and stayed there until I woke up in this really uncomfortable position at about 4am.

I've spent the day cleaning and organizing my office, and getting all my paperwork in order for the dreaded taxes that I need to get done. Kelly and I are going out this evening to Rose & Thistle with Miranda & Brian and Mr. & Mrs. Ghost Dog. Looking forward to it, and hope we can last the night out without having a yawn attack. 🙂

Well, as of Wednesday I've been back at work, and mostly finished with my cold. It's still hanging on, and I'm getting the feeling that it will be for some time. I'm still tired (usually asleep by 10:00pm) still have a bit of a stuffy head and cough, but at least I'm no longer incapacitated, and can breathe through my nose! (hooray!)

Wednesday evening Kelly and I went out to Veritable Quandary for dinner. VQ is a nice place, with a good wine selection (apparently) and a decent beer selection. It's a little spendy (expect to spend about $70 per couple, which includes dinner, maybe a dessert, and a couple drinks) but it's got a nice atmosphere and our server was very friendly and helpful. I had a very good caesar salad, a couple pints of beer (memory already fading on what it was, but I was still a bit sick so I don't remember tasting much), and what I thought was going to be an appetizer pizza (ended up being about 10") with a very salty thin-sliced meat called capicola (coppa on the menu). By about 9:15 I was feeling exhausted, and full and arrived home just in time for me to hit the pillow before I fell asleep. Romantic, I know. 🙂

Last night I met my friend Jenn at Mash Tun for a little bit, and later Kelly met me there after she finished with a meeting with some of her classmates for her MBA. Like the night before, I started fading pretty early.

Tonight Kelly's at class, and has class all day tomorrow. I'm just relaxing, letting my body continue to fight the evil. If the forecast holds and it actually is partly sunny and 56 degrees tomorrow, I may try to spend some time working on the yard. It's a mess! 

Woke up yesterday with the beginnings of a head cold; stuffy head, slightly sore throat, etc. After work Kelly and I stopped by a friend's birthday shindig at Zaytoon, but bowed out early and by 9:30pm I was in bed (which, as many of you know, is practically unheard of).

I woke up at about 7:00am this morning, feeling worse than I did yesterday, so I decided not to go into the office in the morning. However, I had to go at some point because SuperSweetCo was throwing a 'launch party' to celebrate all the new product releases, so I arrived at the office at 11:00am, checked emails and cleaned up my computer a bit before heading over to the Rock Bottom Brewery at noon. We had the upper floor rented out (which has 4 or 5 pool tables) from noon until about 5pm, catered with very delicious foods (club sandwiches, white cheddar mashed potatoes, green beans, salmon, and a chicken pasta dish) and of course, beer. I got to play a few games of pool, and after most people disappeared either back to the office or home, the few of us who were left played some darts. At about 5:30pm I went back to the office to collect my things, with just enough of a beer 'buzz' that I was able to forget my symptoms and move on to the next thing.

Kelly and I had made plans with our friends J & J to go to dinner at the Goose Hollow Inn, old stomping grounds for Kelly and I, which we hadn't been too in quite some time. Had a delicious dinner (their famous reuben sandwich) and a couple pints of Guinness before heading home at around 9:45pm. Hope this cold thing runs its course quickly. Already I think we're going to have to cancel plans with Mr. & Mrs. Ghost Dog tomorrow. Urgh. 

After a few stressful weeks at work, SuperSweetCo released a new product, along with updates to existing applications and a new website, late last night. Today the team I've been working with were given something of a reprieve / 'thank you', starting with breakfast at Mother's Bistro & Bar from 9:00am to 10:30am, followed by a bit of light work (including some last-minute design work that I had to get done). At around 1:30pm the team went to Kells for some drinks, and then at around 4:00pm we went to Ruth's Chris Steak House for some inexpensive happy hour food and some more drinks (I had the chicken skewers, but a couple others from the team had the bacon-wrapped tenderloin bites that looked delicious). After that, at around 5:00pm we walked up the street to Huber's for some more drinks. It was a great day, and a well-deserved 'recharge' for everybody, where we were able to relax and discuss ideas for the next version(s) of the newly released product.

At about 6:40pm I left Huber's and took the bus homeward, stopping at Mash Tun to hang out with my friend Jenn for a little bit before heading home. Great day, and as I said in the title of this post, an unusual workday, but definitely a good thing, keeping everybody from burning out. More to come I'm sure, as SuperSweetCo has rented out part of Rock Bottom Brewery on Friday from 12:30pm on for a company party to celebrate the launch of all the new products. Hooray!

Work at SuperSweetCo has been nuts lately due to a big product release planned for early next week… loads of last-minute HTML / CSS tweaks to the application, development help for another project, and chipping in on the new company website. In the midst of it all I've gone out the past few evenings (to wind down from work, let K have time to focus on schoolwork, and to catch up with friends). On Tuesday I met up with Snooks & L at Kennedy School for dinner and a few beers, last night I made my triumphant return to Mash Tun to catch up with my good friend Jenn (and of course have a couple beers), and lastly tonight both of my brothers and I were out for dinner and beers at Moon & Sixpence. That's right, the three of us invaded Moon & Sixpence, and came dangerously close to draining their vast beer supply, so great is our combined beer-drinking power. 🙂