Yesterday late afternoon, Don came up here and we drove to Sean's place (making a total of zero back tracks, a new record!), got a tour of the awesome new layout of the 2nd floor of his parent's place. His new bedroom will be pretty nice. Then we went and got some grub and alcohol at... Bourbon Street? I think that was the name of it. I had crawfish, but I felt a little like Tom Hanks in Castaway, when he felt real uneasy about eating these huge crab legs on a buffet table. I had previously really enjoyed crawdads (crawfish) on a backpacking trip when all we did was boil them and dip them in butter. The rice/butter/garlic sauce was alright, but there was just so much! :)
We then went to the annual Irish Fest that Sean goes to. We wandered around a bit, checked out some of the artwork/jewelry/clothes that were being sold, and then went over to the concert tent and got as close to the stage as we could... about 75 feet back, I'd say. "The Saw Doctors" came out and you could definitely tell they were an Irish group, playing for an Irish audience! Everybody loved them, and were really moving to the music. I really enjoyed the experience... both the music, and seeing how people appreciated it (except, perhaps, for the occasional drunk). This page may give you a little insight into how good they were. It was fun watching a group of 3 or 4 couples, probably late 20s, really enjoy what was probably one of their favorite bands. There also looked like there were some relatives of the band towards the front, or at least major groupies - an entire family w/ a few really young kids, obviously enjoying it all! There were a few times where the sax player really took it away, and one time I really felt swept up in how the sounds he created danced around the rhythm the rest of the players were creating, and crescendo'd... w/ the crowd getting noticeably more into it / active, synchronized with the sax's approach towards climax.
I'm going nowhere for Memorial Day. I've got to sit here and do laundry and pack. This upcoming week I'll be driving back and forth between work, LaPorte, and my new apartment in Chicago. Next weekend I'll have to get the moving all finished up, and finally get settled in.
I've been trying to really establish myself in LinkedIn. I read a good WashingtonPost article about the service, and have also been following a pretty good blog, Spiderware.com whose author is really sold on the future of LinkedIn. I'm having to send a lot of
unsolicited emails to people I know, but fortunately it gives me the opportunity to formulate a personal email. I was worried that I would start spewing out these Plaxo spam-like emails, but I think LinkedIn is a pretty good compromise. They adhere to some pretty strict privacy guidelines, that could get them in a helluva lot of legal trouble if they ever broke them.
So try out LinkedIn! It looks to be an excellent professional networking tool, for all industries. One reason I think so, is because I don't instantly have all these new contacts. It's not a free ride, just like real-life networking takes work. (It is $$-free though! and if you join while it's still in it's beta period, you will receive more features for free than most people, when it becomes a partial-pay system)