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A few weekends ago my family had a big pig roast to celebrate my sister’s PHD achievement. It was really fun and I realized this morning that I haven’t yet had an opportunity to post about it.

The pig guys, so named because they took care of the pig, showed up at 6am on the day of the roast to start to prepare. There was a giant pig, baked beans like you wouldn’t believe, potato salad, corn, roasted veggies, sausage and peppers, hot wings, salad, watermelon, cake, and the list goes on.

As for the pig? well, it was a little strange to see the beast roasting on a spear of sorts. But it came out pretty good. I had no idea how fatty pork meat was.

The group was fantastic. Theresa had invited a bunch of close friends from high school, graduate school, and family. It’s really fun just to get together with a big group of fun people.

The party went well into the night, probably not closing up until around midnight.

Well done Dr. Theresa! Yay!

This weekend my sister T was ceremoniously rewarded her PHD in social psychology. It was a really fun ceremony. There was a monster parade and bells and drums and hundreds of people wearing robes and various hats.

T walked across stage where the administration gave her the diploma and placed the hood over her head. It was triumphant. The raucous crowd cheered heavily. What perfect weather as well! It was a proud day in Rhode Island to be sure.

Yay Tree! Great job!

The rest of the weekend was reasonably relaxed. My memorial day was spent out at East Peak with Pete. I worked Rat Crack and Cat Crack with some practice ascending. Rat crack was kind of miserable. it wasn’t really a crack so much as an off width - and I hate off widths. Cat crack, on the other hand, was a totally intense crack. For crack climbing you have to jam your joints and fist in between the rock to help pull yourself up. It’s extremely intense. Every move hurts. Today my arms are all sorts of scratched and scarred from the climb.

Then last night we had some pizza and some rockband. This was a good weekend.

On Friday night DiDonato family and friends gathered to watch my sister give her dissertation speech. It was fantastic. She filled every chair in the room (and then some) and gave a fantastic presentation that completed her requirements for a doctorate.

Tree is now the first ever Dr. DiDonato.

Wow.

After the big event we started the partying and what a fantastic afternoon it was! First we hit up some Chinese food. Then it was back to T’s place for cake and more cake. Finally, we went over to a bar on the water and sat and chatted it up drinking drinks and being merry. It was an excellent opportunity to meet all of my sister’s friends in Providence and celebrate and rejoice.

Even since, she’s been in a great mood. And rightly so, because after a very long time… her schooling is complete.

Rock on T!

Today I’m headed to Providence to witness my sister Theresa’s thesis defense. Yes. She is one requirement away from achieving her PHD is social psychology. Way to go Tree!!!!

I’ll let you know how it goes.

It is with extreme excitement that I can officially report that my sister Alicia won the competition yesterday and will be starting her first big-time official symphonic gig with the Oregon Symphony. This is such huge overwhelmingly fantastic news. Alicia’s been working hard and taking auditions furiously since she graduated from college. She’ll be playing 2nd chair and will be starting up in August.

She’ll play for a year and if everyone’s happy she could pull a tenure spot.

Join me in Congratulating Alicia!

Yay!!!!

This weekend I jetted home for Saturday. The morning started with my lending a helpful hand on a few jobs that have been nagging at my folks.

Job 1? The sump pump.

My folks had some flooding issues last week and realized that they had to change out the sump pump. They purchased a new one, but after installing it, realized that they had mistakenly left out a key hole.

Water pumps often need to have water in them in order to start comfortably. So the pump manufacturer recommended drilling a small 3mm (1/8″) hole about 100mm (four inches) up from the pump’s base. It was my task to drill that hole.

It really wasn’t too much of a difficult task. First I took off the pipe clamps and released the pressure in the line. Some water poured out, but it wasn’t too bad. We took off the main water line exiting the house and then I went in to work with the pump itself. I had to unscrew the pipe from the pump. Crammed under the sink, I reached behind the pump - holding it steady as I cranked the pipe above.

And that’s when my hand hit the float switch. At that same moment my mom, my dad, and I quickly learned that we hadn’t unplugged the pump.

A torrent of water exploded up from the floor directly into my face. It was frigid. My mom started shouting, I tried to back out but hit my head on the sink, my dad (arm in brace from a recent ladder incident) desperately trying to grab for the plug.

Eventually someone managed to yank out the plug and we all laughed and laughed at our idiocy.

Lesson learned: unplug a pump before working on it.

Kate and Kurt have both, at one time or another, asked about the picture frame I have on my desk. From afar it looks like a little hippo or robot… but why is it so awesome that it deserves prime desk real estate?

well, it isn’t so much a picture as a card that my sister Alicia sent me for Valentines day last year. Let’s take a closer look.

The Front (click to make bigger):

The Back (click to make bigger):

Isn’t that neat? I love it. So I put it in a frame and keep it on my desk. I think it’s creative and passes along a great message.

So I signed up for Goodreads awhile ago. I have 13 books that I’ve thrown up there and felt proud of my 13 books. Most of my goodread friends have between 2 and 30 so I felt decent about my modest pile o’ books. Most of them I’d read in the last year too… that’s better than one book a month! Awesome!

On Saturday my sisters Alicia and Theresa found the website, signed up, and promptly flushed my proud booklist down into the sewer.

Alicia has 99 books and Theresa has 43. ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY TWO BOOKS BETWEEN THEM.

Now, I’m a competitive individual and normally when my sisters show superiority I get motivated to compete with them. Sometimes it’s not too hard because they don’t know that we’re competing.* But not here friends. At my current rate of reading it will take me almost ELEVEN YEARS to read as many books as them. I spoke to Alicia… she goes through a stack of books from the library every TWO WEEKS. A STACK.

Out of my league.

Sigh.

*This isn’t pathetic, it’s strategy.

My mom made me a quilt.

She’s not entirely proud of it as she claims that the quilting itself is not as majestic as she’d like it to be. But I helped her a bit with the design and I think it turned out awesome.

The quilt is made up of 100 small squares. Each side is 10 squares long and there is a thing black border that ostracizes the outer row of squares. A royal pink and white pattern divides up the background and then 8 black squares are placed in a seemingly random patter across the quilt.

However, there is nothing random about the placement of these black squares. In fact, the placements are quite specific.

Can you figure it out? And can you guess the name of the quilt?

(if I’ve already told you… please refrain from this mini fun contest)

Yesterday was my dad’s birthday. Dads are pretty great. They always seem to know everything and be good at everything.

I’ve compiled a little list of things my dad is exceptionally good at. Enjoy!

Adventure.
My dad is a wizard when it comes to adventure. There were weekend trips to the science museum, sailing races at lake Quannapowitt, spelunking the ‘lemon squeeze’ in NH, and my first climbing adventures up Castle Rock. My dad turned mundane trips to the recycling center into something that could be talked about at the dinner table. We hiked Lincoln, Lafaette, and Haystack in NH and went to a lego dinosaur robot building event. Do you need to read that again? Lego Dinosaur Robots. Can you think of anything that could possibly be cooler to an 8 year old DiDonato?

Music.
My dad paid for much of his younger year lifestyle with the proceeds from his band. It’s name was “Uncle Sam’s Love Thy Neighbor Ragtime Band.” They even put out an album! He played for weddings, in parades, and various town events. The band is still together and when they play, smiles can not be avoided. Dad’s also in another band called “Tabasco Fiasco.” They play more regularly at bars and locations in NE. It’s a great group of guys and the music is really fantastic.
I first got into the Saxophone through my dad. I started learning at age 7 and still get much joy when my dad and I can get together and play some sax duets.

Gifts.
For over 20 years my dad provided to his children a Super Duper amazing flamazing zippy-zappy fantastic sensational extraordinary etc… etc… Present! at Christmas time. the name always changed, but the concept was the same. We’d wake up Christmas morning to find an envelope buried within the Christmas tree. In it, there were a series of puzzles and challenges that lead us to an awesome group gift.

Some of the gifts included:

a computer!
games!
sleds!
an hour long tap dancing class (my personal fav.)!
A family Oragami lesson (a close second)!
Stock options!

Food.
My dad cooks extravagant meals. Most of the time they take forever. And most of the time we hear shouts of “OH NO!” coming from the kitchen. But the end result is always great. Included in this food section should also be Breakfast. My dad makes a great breakfast. One breakfast in particular stands out. It was the day of my SAT and I came downstairs to find a full breakfast feast awaiting me. Bacon, Pancakes, Eggs, English Muffins, Juice… it was glorious!

Saving the Day.

One of the many adventures my dad took me on was a trip where we learned about the geology in Boston architecture with a tour guide. A group of about 12 of us were told what types of rocks were used where, and where they came from.

While we were walking around, two men joined the group suspiciously. But they paid attention to the presentation and seemed interested.

Not far from Government center, we stopped to look at the foundation of a building. I stood near the back, my father behind me.

Suddenly there was motion.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” my dad shouted.

When my dad shouts… everyone listens.

I spun around to find my dad gripping one of the men’s wrists tightly.

“what… what?” the man shook with fear.

“WERE YOU GOING TO STEAL THIS WOMAN’S PURSE?!”

The woman who my dad was referring to quickly tightened her grip on her purse. The purse had been open, her wallet showing.

“no, no… I…. ”
“GET OUT OF HERE NOW!”
“listen man… you got it all wrong.”
“DO YOU WANT ME TO GET THE POLICE?! GET OUT OF HERE!!!”

the man quickly left.

“YOU TOO! GET OUT OF HERE NOW!” My dad ordered the other stranger.
“I didn’t have anything to do with this! I’m just watching!”
“GET OUT.” my Dad commanded.

he left. Our tour group relaxed, safe again because my dad saved the day.

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Interested in more stories from Dad D? Click here.

Happy Birthday Dad! You’re the best!

Friday afternoon I left work at about 3pm with Shaun L. to head to Boston for my sister’s performance with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP). We picked up Erich, Nicole, and my mom along the way. BMOP is described as “one of a handful of professional orchestras in the United States dedicated exclusively to performing and recording music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.*”

This particular concert focused on works written by French Composers.

The concert as a whole was pretty incredible. It turns out that modern orchestra music is awesome. The first piece, a world premier by Betsy Jolas entitled Jour B, was dark, aggressive, and at a few points, actually frightening. It was a little tough to get into the music, but once I got into it I got very into it. There were three points in the first piece where the orchestra members actually shouted out and it startled the heck out of me. It was wild.

My sister was featured in a piece written by Pascal Dusapin called Galim, written in 1998. It was rather incredible. Prior to the concert she had mentioned being nervous because it was a very difficult piece. Once she started playing I understood. It was furiously fast, sporadic, and energetic.

Alicia, in gown, prepares to amaze all with her flutitude.

The third piece was another piece by Dusapin, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as the others.

The final piece was a monster that lasted for about 35 minutes or so. The orchestra was positioned so that the instruments were spread out across the stage. The composer had written the piece taking into consideration the instrument’s location. For example, there was one trumpet on the far left, another on the far right. The left trumpet would start softly and crescendo. The right trumpet would then match the note and volume and then fade. The end result was a feeling that the sound had whipped across the stage from the left to the right. Stunning.

One part of the piece had three percussionists going wild on wooden blocks. It was extremely exciting.

Post concert we met Alicia in the lobby before heading back. Here are a few pictures to conclude this review.

Alicia and her fiance Dwane!

Sister and Brother!

*BMOP website

On February 23rd as I stood in a feisty steel mill at the edge of Houston, I received a phone call from my sister Alicia. I had to call her back because the pneumatics were far too loud for casual phone conversation.

A few minutes later, the return call was made and with that phone call I learned of great news: My sister Alicia is engaged to Dwane!

Apparently Dwane brought Alicia up to the green mountains and on a beautiful Sunday Monday morning proposed. The ring is from the 1920’s and is shiny and shown in the image above.

I don’t believe any dates or anything have been set yet but I’m very pleased to welcome Dwane into the DiDonato family tree. He’s extremely bright, entertaining, and will treat my sister well. (he’d also be an excellent rock climber. At a height of over 2 meters he will rival even Devin in his ability to skip moves)

Congratulations Leesha!! I wish you countless years of joyful marryment!

And Congratulations to Dwane! Welcome to the Family! I’m excited that you will be a brother in law.

It’s hilarious opening a package from your sister and finding a sock.

It’s even more hilarious when you realize it isn’t your sock.

If you don’t have any exciting plans for tonight I would like to invite you to come check out my dad’s band TABASCO FIASCO in MA. The show starts at 8pm. Fire me an e-mail if you’d like more details: mikedidonato AT gmail DOT com

I can promise good times.

Merry Christmas!

And what a Christmas it was. Saturday night, after a wild day of kung fu and present buying, I returned to Massachusetts where I attended my sister’s hip dessert party. I met some wonderful people and was entertained by hilarious videos and equally hilarious British people.

Sunday I finished up my shopping (procrastination all around!) and spent some time with the family eating Chinese food, watching Spinal Tap, and going to midnight mass.

Christmas day was a surplus of merriment (and gifts!)

let’s talk gifts. There were definitely some highlights this year.

The Lunch Box of Legends
This thing is imposing. It instills fear into all who witness its storage capacity. In the words of an astute friend “Good God. You could feed yourself AND sander from that lunch box.” I have no doubts that I will be able to fit my entire lunch into this box every day. Even on fat days. Especially on fat days.

additional picture - check out my lunch box of legends as it dominates over jesse’s measly lunch box of lameness

Rock Climbing Equipment
Mainly, a rope and a rope bag. These won’t arrive for a couple weeks, so the pictures are delayed.

Thor T-shirt
He’s swinging his mighty hammer of supremacy.

Asian Cookbook
Recipes from this book will likely be highlighted over the coming months in any “Mike D Eats” features.

Monogrammed Towels!
no description needed.

Other highlights included beautifully warm thick socks, oatmeals of many types, foodstuffs from everywhere, a few key tools, starbucks gift certificates, and much more!

Also, my dad got a new cappuccino machine that makes the most glorious coffee beverages you could ever taste. It’s making me wonder if I should consider it as a potential for kitchen appliance 2007.

Overall, Christmas was a great success. It was awesome to spend time with the family and exchange presents and joy.

My sister Alicia sent out an e-mail to my family with the following text:

Merry Christmas from Mike D!

Hilarious!

I did indeed make it to the BSO last night. Pepe Romero’s guitar skills were sick and the orchestra was powerful. Erich, Kim, Jesse and I had front row seats which gave us a wonderful view of Pepe’s miracle fingers. These fingers would best be described by the word ‘fast.’

Also….there was no mic on the guitar but the sound still filled symphony hall. It was humbling listening to his music. It was also extremely fun to see my sister play with the BSO. Great job Alicia!

A few other fun things happened. In one of the final movements of the final piece, the timpani came in furiously at the conductor’s cue. Because of our proximity to the stage, we could immediately notice the violin players stifling laughs. Violin #9 caught the eye of Viola 1. They smiled at each other. Violin #5 actually turned her head to catch the eye of one of the other violins behind her. What was so funny?

I spoke with Alicia afterwards and she informed me that usually the Timpani’s came in quiet and reserved at that point. But that this time, the musician decided to belt it out. The humor was just too much for the violins to handle.

Also, because of our Row A seats, our heads were right at the level of the orchestra’s feet. Jesse, who was sitting behind us, leaned forward just after the admission and whispered to me:

“New game, find the musician with the most exciting socks.”
he then leaned back in his chair and said
“so far, I’m not impressed.”

The woman next to him only heard the second statement and turned in shock and horror at Jesse’s disapproval of this phenomenal group of musicians.

The only bummer of the night was the fact that we got back to the HoR close to 2:30am. I am one very tired mike d.