Mike D: Sander, I dare you to name something more delicious than gravy.
Sander: Certain types of pie. Maybe.

Check out this Video.

From Gymnast Caitlin.

MikeDiDonato.com has a new banner.

Thanks to Jon Abad and Ryan for their assistance in making this website rock so severely.

I’ve switched all my pens to blue ink. Sure, it might seem like a trivial change… but it’s made a great difference here in my working world of Mechanical Engineering.

You see, I work quite a bit with detailed drawings which are all printed on giant black and white plotters. When you’re making small revisions in a vast sea of black and white lines and text, the blue stands out a lot better than black. In fact, a good black pen will blend in perfectly with the ink drawings.

Some might make the argument for mechanical pencils, but, like rock and grain in a Catan without cities, those pencils are a hot commodity in our supply cabinets. Others use red or highlighters, but those colors aren’t as welcomed by the business community for official documents. Blue is the best of both worlds; it meets the standards of the corporate environment and provides a nice color differentiation on printed draft files.

Rock on blue ink.

This is cute.

From Mom D.

This past Saturday was a blast. After a moderately intense kung fu class (we did conditioning… I’m sore), I headed over to the rock climbing gym with Irene, Tony, and Paulette. Where… wait for it… I started work on my first 5.13.

5.13’s are extremely hard climbs.

I didn’t finish it. In fact, I didn’t get much further than about 12 feet off the ground, but that alone is far better than I’ve ever performed on any 5.13 that I’ve tried in the past. Also, it should be said that I am still not a comfortable 5.12 climber. There’s a 5.12+ which is royally kicking my butt and a handful of 5.12-’s and 5.11+’s that cause me considerable grief. Still, getting on a 5.13 and working the moves feels really amazing. I’ve been told that the crux of the climb is actually at the top… very far from where I am. But have faith! I’m climbing harder than I’ve ever climbed before and I think that this route may be something I can accomplish. I’ll keep working it.

Sunday we had band practice. We started working on a Soundgarden tune (My Wave) and dang. Let me tell you: Soundgarden does some truly amazing things. My Wave is in 5/4 and has some really intense transitions. We sounded pretty good. I’m hoping to be ready for a show by June-ish.

After the band rocked out, I came back and put together a monster turkey feast for the roommates and our Roller Derby crowd. Chris, Irene, Keller, and I went over to check out the CT Roller Girls. Check out the review over on the left. The bout was incredible. Keller and I ended up staying at the After-party until about 11:30pm. It was a good time.

The next bout is on March 16th. It’s an interleague match and CT’s stepford sabotage will need our support. Let me know if you’d like to join our group.

What a bout! On Sunday February 24th the Widowmakers and Iron Angels donned their skates in an epic match-up that we were all expecting to be extremely exciting. The girls did not disappoint.

The night started with the Iron Angels skating off their bench to the wailing riffs of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck. Led by captain Tina Colada (#B-52), the Angels were starting their season off after clinching the win at last year’s championship bout against the Widowmakers. And now the Widowmakers were back. After the Angels introduction concluded, the Widowmakers screamed off their bench to Billy Idol’s White Wedding… they were skating with a vengeance. Unlike last December, this time the Widowmakers had come with Luciana PULVERotti (#110R) and Milla LowLife (#40 oz. “The Champaign of Roller Girls”).

The Angels, however, aren’t a team to be caught unawares; they too had new players in their ranks. Mount Saint Helen (#1980), Beaver Knievel (#97), and Virginia Woolferine (#168) had joined the team and were ready for action. Yes, the crowd was expecting excitement but nothing could prepare us for the two 30 minute periods that followed.

It Begins…

The bout started with Angel Pearl Jammer (#GO) up against Eleanor Bruisevelt (#1933). The ref’s whistle screeched once and the pack was off… it screeched again and the jammers took off. Using their skate’s toe-break as a pushing point, the Jammers propelled themselves forward on their toes accelerating quickly to overtake the looming pack.

Right from the start, the match-up showed promise. The blockers were defiant. Pearl, who has the incredible skill of finding openings between even the most vicious opponents was held back by the Widowmaker defense. Eleanor broke through first and snagged lead jammer status. But Pearl is not one to give up easily. She wove through the pack behind Eleanor. The two derby girls met stiff resistance as they circled around to reach the pack again. Pearl snaked through quickly and snagged two quick points before Eleanor could end the jam. Yes, it was clear from the first jam that the bout would depend heavily on the defensive strategies of each team.

The Widowmakers drive was ferocious. After Eleanor’s efforts Luciana, Black Cherry (#C-4), and Milla consecutively took lead jammer status away from the fighting Angels. What was remarkable is that despite the Widowmaker’s early dominance at breaking through the pack, Pearl, Pam Terror (#9), and Girl Fawkes (#V) were able to slowly chip away at the score. One point here, two points there. After six jams the score stood tied at 9-9.

And Then Began a Remarkable Defensive Struggle.

Revengela (#1-2-3-4), the authoritative Captain of the Widowmakers, took the jamming spot across Pam Terror. The whistle blew and the two jammers raced up towards a very formidable pack. Miz Con SepJen (#7), Parker Poison (#A33), Pearl, and Mount Saint Helen were among those who were intent on cutting short their competitor’s drive. One jam… two jams… three jams… four jams went by scoreless. The Widowmakers were making a break for points, but the Angels kept cutting them off by strategically ending the jams. Acting as pivot Black Cherry, perhaps the single most charismatic roller girl to grace a derby ring, successfully crushed the Angel’s jammer again and again… all the while blowing kisses to the adoring crowd. The Widowmakers were making big hits.

But the tide had turned. The Angels started taking the critical lead jammer status away from the Widowmakers. Violet Riot (#911) made a huge contribution as she earned 7 crucial points for the Iron Angels. Girl Fawkes came out next and, backed up by Mount Saint Helen’s aggressive drop of Widowmaker Milla LowLife, widened the gap with 2 points and then 8 more points for the Angels. Tina Colada and Milla LowLife skated opposite each other to end the first half with a score of 34 to 19. The Iron Angels had taken a healthy lead.

The 2nd Half

The second half saw some incredible strategy. Occasionally a blocker would reach back and grab the hand of her jamming teammate. She would then swing her arm furiously around her body and whip her team’s jammer forward. The jammer could take this sudden burst of speed and work to pull ahead or make up lost ground. Lord those girls can skate.

Black Cherry used another unique strategy when she skated as jammer. Numerous times she would find herself blocked by one or two defensive Angels. Motioning back to her blocking teammates she would encourage them to slow down… thus pulling the pack away from the her and the wall that prevented her escape.

What could this possibly do? Well, there’s a rule in Roller Derby that says that the pack must remain reasonably tight. Roller girls can’t stray too far away before the refs raise their hands and the girls have to stop blocking any opposing jammers. In pushing the pack back, Black Cherry could get the ref to call out the loose pack. The Iron Angel blockers would then have to let Black Cherry skate through unopposed scoring an extra point or two.

The angels were using strategy as well. As time ticked away Violet Riot skated twice as jammer against Black Cherry. Both times she barely squeezed lead jammer status away from the fearsome Widowmaker. As the pair raced back towards the pack, Violet theatrically tapped her hips ending the jam with a 0 -0 score and pushing the clock further and further down.

When the final buzzer sounded the Iron Angels took the victory: 60 to 48.

Statistics!
Black Cherry: 27 points in 9 jams (lead 4)
Tina Colada: 22 points in 11 jams (lead 4)
Girl Fawkes: 16 points in 4 jams (lead 3)

Trips to the Penalty Box?
Widowmakers: 24
Iron Angels: 11

Players with the most trips to the penalty box:
Miz Con SepJen: 6
Tina Colada: 4

After the match we headed over to the afterparty at The Brass House. There Keller and I had some beverages and witnessed the ceremonial inauguration of two new roller girls. They were handed birth certificates with their roller girl nicknames. Cake was served and the bar welcomed the two new recruits.

The CT roller girls will put these new girls to work. Especially since next month will see the CT All-Star team, the Stepford Sabotage, up against the Rhode Island Riveters. Rhode Island’s team is older and more experienced with brutal players like ‘Da Silva Bullet’ and ‘Jetta Von Diesel’. The Stepford Sabotage will have their work cut out for them on March 16th, but the fans have faith! For more information on the upcoming bout, check out the CT roller girl’s website here:

CT Roller Derby

Sunday’s bout was amazing. Great job Roller Girls! We’ll see you March 16th!!

So the last four days have been pretty wild. I’ll start with Thursday and include updates of the rest of this past weekend as this week progresses.

Thursday night I played at an open mic in Berlin. The place is called the Pine Loft. It’s actually a pizza parlor and not the type of place you’d expect to have an open mic setup. Tall pine columns and bright heavy floors give the feeling of a boy-scout camp more than a musical oasis, but the organizers do a good job with it. The guy running the sound seems to know what he’s doing and the musicians who play are quite skilled.

I went with Keller, Ernie, Cordelia, Cathryn, and John. I played two tunes: Sunshower by Chris Cornell and Posters by Jack Johnson. I would rate my performance as ‘passable’.

Waaay more cool was the fact that I got a whole bunch of compliments on my beautiful guitar. It was refreshing and made me quite proud. Boy that thing is nice. I’ve been trying to get practice time in every day. Soon… yes… soon I will be able to play guitar well enough to live up to this guitar’s majesty.

As for a name? I’m still not decided. At the moment I’m leaning towards ‘Olivia‘. Specific heat, which got the most words of praise in the previous post, is too long for me. It doesn’t have any mystique to it either. The greek names intrigue me as well. I remain undecided.

Stay tuned for Roller Derby recap. (it will probably appear either later tonight or early tomorrow)

First of all, have I mentioned how much I adore my guitar? It is so perfectly hot.

I’m here to talk a bit about names for said guitar. I contacted Cindy. She’s pretty amazing at coming up with good names for stuff. I sent her a picture and asked her advice. She responded with the following suggestions for guitar names:

Lust Storm
Red Devil
Dionysus
Specific Heat
Olivia
Pandora
Ambrosia
Stolen Fire
Prometheus
Persephone

And there are still those that were recommended previously:
Mary Jane
Gillian
Slayvixen

thoughts?

The Stair Library.

1. Sharks
2. Tigers
3. Amazing Ideas

International Clock

Seriously.

Check it out.

Found by Jesse.

Awesome Bass Guitar Skills.

from Jill.

Colleague: I haven’t received that package you guys sent
Mike D: Really? We sent on Thursday next day air.
Colleague: uh oh.
Mike D: Hold on a sec
I open up UPS.com and check the tracking number. It says “Delivered. Porch.”
Mike D: The package is on your porch.
Colleague: What?
Mike D: check your porch. The package is on your porch.
…
Colleague: Wow. Yes it is. Well done.

Mykal sent me a sweet recipe awhile back. I haven’t tried it yet but figured I’d share it with everybody because its winter… and Mykal totes this as an A+ winter soup recipe.

Butternut Squash Soup

Recipe created by: Mykal Rosendahl

* 2 medium butternut squash
* 2 T olive oil
* 1 onion
* 1 tsp salt
* 2 t ground coriander
* 2 t tumeric
* 2 t cumin
* 2 t ground ginger
* 3 cups chicken or veggie broth
* 1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut butternut squash in half and scoop out seeds and inards and discard. Cover squash with aluminum foil and roast for 1 hour or until squash is soft.

Once squash is mostly cooked heat oil in the soup pot. Chop onion. Add onion and salt to pot and cook until soft 5-10 min. Add broth , squash and spices to pot. Simmer ingridents for 15 minutes. Turn off heat. Puree soup in a blender or food processer. Add heavy cream and serve.

Alicia put together this little song for me awhile back. It is how she envisions rock climbing.

enjoy!

rockclimbing.mp3

This was a strangely busy weekend. I say ’strangely’ because despite a somewhat busy schedule, I got a lot of stuff done and managed to close Sunday out with a little relaxation. Friday was the final class in my supply chain course, Saturday concluded Ethics. Both courses were okay, I’m not a huge fan of either topic so I’m glad to see them concluded. Let’s look at the progression charts.

Not too shabby.

Saturday night I helped Shamus move into his new place up in Vernon. Prior to going to his place I picked up a few things at guitar center including the “Guitar Grimoire” which, so far, has been quite a challenge. The Guitar Grimoire is a collection of scale exercises that should help to improve my speed and comfort with performing sick absurd riffs. The exercises themselves aren’t overwhelming, it’s just getting over the habits that I have already developed and learning new picking techniques.

Sunday saw some academics with Pete, a couple hours at work, and then some climbing. I finished a 5.12 that would best be described as “pretty darn hard.” After climbing I made some delicious Goulash, practiced guitar for an hour or so, and then got into some reading and half of a film that came highly recommended from Jess.

The book: The Tipping Point.
it describes the point where trends, illnesses, and ideas go from small to huge. I really like the ideas presented. I’ll write a more comprehensive review upon completing the book.

The movie: Everything is Illuminated
A Warner Bros independent film that, so far (I’ve only watched 45 minutes), is pretty excellent.

And now it’s Monday and we’re back in business. This year is zipping by rather quickly.

68!!

Beat it here.

OMG! Were you watching the Nationwdie racing series on Nascar.com Saturday afternoon at 1:16pm?!?!? Dale Earnheardt Jr. had a new lady by his side!!!! Assistant? or girlfriend?!? You Decide.

Mike D: I think I have to come into work this weekend.
Sander: Bummer.
Mike D: yeah, I suppose it could be worse though.
Sander: that’s true. your office could be full of snakes.

Yeah, it took awhile. But the Meriden Public Library just got back to me. They now have the book Slash for me. Ready to read. Unfortunately, they are closed today and Sunday… and unfortunately I have class tomorrow. So I’ll probably have to pick it up Monday.

Either way, I’m stoked.