Residents:
Mike D., Jesse, Mark, Tom, Sander, Jon Abad, Liz, Shaun, Brian, Michael K, Michael P, Kevin…

and now…

Nick!

Welcome to the HoR Nick.

At first glance, the equipment looked fairly complicated.

I hastily flipped through the how-to pamphlet, quickly gave up, plugged it in, and went for it. Thankfully they had little warning stickers everywhere: “DON’T POUR ANYTHING IN HERE!” screamed a bright yellow sticker on the Doctor’s discharge cannister.

It turns out it’s pretty straight forward. 1/2 Cup of rug cleaner per gallon of water. Pour in, turn on, hit the spray button, drag across floor.

It worked great! Not flawless, but much better than even the best of dry vacuums. Carpet shampooing is a rare event at the HoR so I really took my time. I used the equipment for maybe an hour and a half and cleaned 3 rooms.

Added bonus: that carpet cleaner smells great. The rugs at the HoR now radiate the faint smell of flowers*

Overall, I would rate this product strongly. It’s effective and easy to use. Way to go Rug Doctor!

*manly flowers.

I returned from Luxembourg in time to get some work done at the House of Rock. We’re accepting a new resident tomorrow so, at the moment, my life is rife with sheetrock compound and primer. Thankfully, things haven’t been all work. Sandwiched between Luxembourg and Labor, was an epic night of Karaoke.

Yes, Shaun, Darcy, SarahS, and I joined a legion of Darcy’s posse at the Koy for an epic singfest. The gold star for the night goes to Darcy who has been struggling with confidence since an ill-mannered Karaoke patron criticized her duet a while back. Finally, after months and months of confidence rebuilding, she agreed to take the stage solo again. She sang Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and knocked it out of the park!

Awesome job Darce!

David smartly asked the front desk which way we should go to find food.

The hotel staff offered the following advice: “Just follow the path outside, and you’ll be led straight to a restaurant!”

And thus began the Luxembourg adventure of 2010.

The Luxembourg Adventure of 2010!!

The problem here was that we didn’t realize there were two paths leading away from the hotel. We followed the one below. This was not the path that the hotel receptionist had in mind.

Check out the sweet use of mortor between stones to create a grass path in the stone path.

Random Castle Museum

Everything started off well. We passed by a beautiful castle (with an awesome modern structure in the background – more about that later). There were amazing views of the valley below and the architecture was breathtaking!

David and Mick... perplexed

After a fair bit of walking the road seemed to come to an abrupt end, but off to the left the path turned to dirt and seemed to enter what appeared to be a strange maze of walls.

... where are we going?

things were getting strange

We entered the labyrinth. We weren’t overly concerned as the path was well worn and it had to lead somewhere. Things got stranger still as we entered an underground.

This looks promising... right?

The depths of Luxembourg

A passage climbs to the surface

The white brick path returned after we exited the underground. Still, no sign of restaurants.

David... still walking

Finally, the path turned into a road and we entered into the old city of Luxembourg.

Quaint, Colorful, and Beautiful

The city is so beautiful and so characteristic of central Europe.

After a good hour or hour and a half, we finally found a restaurant. While my coworkers probably would have appreciated a more efficient means to get to the restaurant, I was pleased as punch. It was such a beautiful walk through a beautiful city.

The Restaurant

The dinner was super high class. I had a small steak fillet with an avocado sauce served with an EPIC side of mashed potatoes. After dinner we tried to find a more efficient way to get back to the hotel and got lost again.

Luxembourg is all about the random castle/tower

Thankfully, we recovered our bearings quickly and got back in time for a decent night’s sleep.

Luxembourg? Awesome.

I had used one of those TSA locks – so presumably once my bag left Boston, it was fairly secure. At each traveling location, it was raining aggressively – so it wasn’t too much of a surprise when my bag showed up at the baggage claim thoroughly soaked. In fact, the moisture had penetrated the suitcase itself a bit resulting in some damp clothes.

But far stranger than any of this, was that when I opened my bag… a shirt that I do not own toppled out – completely drenched. It’s a women’s linen Liz Claiborne button up. Mind you… my suitcase was locked.

I have no guesses on this one.

Unfortunately, travel still finds a way to wig me out. Such was the case with this trip to Luxembourg. I was at the gate 3 hrs ahead. All looked well. Until the phone calls detailing that my travel companions were all horribly late.

My boss was stuck in Charlotte. And the company president was stuck on the Mass pike. It should be said, I was not ready to rock this trip solo. As the plane was boarding, I was standing nervously waiting just inside security. 40 minutes before the flight takes off, the president made it.

My boss did not. He made it to Logan but got caught in shuttle bus traffic. Shuttle bus traffic?

We get on the plane. Six and a half hours later (it’s fairly telling that this felt like a short flight – I don’t even think I checked my watch) we land in Paris where we have 45 minutes to travel what felt like 3 miles through packed hallways and eternal lines.

For those of you who haven’t experienced frequent international travel, never accept a flight option that gives you less than 120 minutes at Charles de gaulle airport. I honestly have no idea how we made it to our flight. We sprint walked with our luggage through customs, through security, and probably at least a mile and a half to a new terminal.

All’s well that ends well? I’m in Luxembourg and as usual, I’m all sorts of jet lagged.

I have brought my camera so hopefully tomorrow (or later today) will see an update with a few pictures.

Until then!

From now on, i’m ranking my projects in Devil to Details ratio instead of “easy to hard”… what should the units be?

I love this.

Jon explains further:

I read somewhere “the devil to details ratio was all out of whack”
which is what made me think of it as a great measure of project or task complexity
i think ideally, you want to get to 0 devils
initially, you’ll have an unknown quantity of both
but you’ll say i have “10 devils in 20 details”

or if its really bad, 100 devils in 20 details

Anyone have any recommendations?

Enjoy!

(courtesy of Jesse)

Fun facts:
Luxembourg’s capital is Luxembourg.
Luxembourg has its own language: Luxembourgish

Area:
Rhode Island: 3,140 km2 (1,214 sq mi)
Luxembourg: 2,586 km2 (998.6 sq mi)

Art!

I’m really pleased with how it came out! though I’m thinking I need to change the color of that outlet.

Thanks Darcy!

I’ve tried the traditional methods of boosting self esteem: rampant consumerism, excessive caffeination, and heavy dosages of family and friends. And while all these have helped, I’m still not quite there. Thankfully, my sisters, friends, and coworkers helped me define, I hope, the next step forward on this path: adultification.

adultification [uh-duhlt-ifi-key-shuhn] –noun
1. the act of becoming more like an adult
2. expansion of an individual’s life, narrative, etc., to better accommodate a more mature attitude

Alicia, in particular, argued that over the next year as I approach and breach the event horizon that is age 30 perhaps it’s time that I start living the more professional life that, when I was younger, I equated with adulthood. The goal being: boost self esteem.

She recommended that I start by updating my surroundings. The House of Rock is an amazing social hub, but it has not-so-subtle ties to the college life. Alicia encouraged me to replace my classless bedroom furniture with something that has a more professional personality. Define my space in such a way to encourage self respect and dignity. Complete my nice knife set that I had always assumed I’d buy once married. Establish a weekly schedule that isn’t so much constant action and has more self-reflection time. Start living like the adult I had imagined I’d become – maybe then greater maturity, responsibility, and self confidence will break through and shine.

I don’t think mine is an uncommon feeling for those of us who always thought we’d have really established solid footing in this thing called life come our late twenties and early thirties. So if you’ve been there and have advice, I’m always up for hearing it. You can leave a comment or e-mail if you’d prefer to keep it private. mikedidonato AT gmail D0T com

Unrelated more upbeat news:
  The movie Scott Pilgrim was excellent
  Hilarious Taboo game clue:
      teammate 1: “A movie that all women like that no man likes”
      teammate 2: “THE NOTEBOOK”
      teammate 1: “correct.”
  Major Disc Golf success this weekend –
       I’ve established a strong forehand grip that allowed
       me two birdies at Wickham park in Manchester
  Major Karaoke Disappointement –
       I tried Burden in My Hand by Soundgarden
       and floundered with the opening lines.
  I learned how to fold fitted bed sheets yesterday. Here’s the tutorial I used: Part 1. Part 2.
  Exerball Chair Update -
        I remain unconvinced. I’m going to try something new this week.