Maui bike ride

It's 8:50am here and I'm going all the way to the top of the mountain (7000ft approx) and ride a bile down. It can take up to 5 hours to complete because it is a 35 miles ride. I hope I'll survive but since it is going down, gravity should help a lot. :). I'm going with this company: www.mauibikeride.com

Going to Maui

I'm at the airport to go to Maui. I'll be 3 days there. I hope to do some work while in there since here in Oahu it was hard. I was at a friends house and I didn't have Internet connection. Hopefully I'll have some in my hotel in Maui. The flight leaves in about 1 hour. Yesterday I went to pearl harbor. To be honest I didn't like much. I don't like these war things. But before I went with Sascha to Hanauma bay. That was incredible. The water was a bit cold but the place is beautiful. We can see many fishes (hey Wayne, in this case it is fishes for sure, not fish. ;) ). We stated there for about 3 hours. For lunch we went to a Hawaiian restaurant and I had two local foods: laulau and lomi-lomi. Very good stuff. I'll try to cook laulau to the guys in a future party.

Hawaii

Got here yesterday. So far the place seems as nice as people say. It actually fells a bit like Brazil. Today (wed) I went all around this island (o'ahu). I started by going to Waikiki where they have a nice marked. Then I went to may places like Sandy Beach, Sound Beach, then to Waimea. The waves at waimea are just unbelievable. Most of them were about 3 times the height of a man, so I'm assuming it was about 7 meters. The ocean here is very blue, as blue as I can imagine. Just beaultiful.

Tomorrow. I'll go to a snorkling place which is supposed to be very nice. I don't think I can spell the name but it is supposed to be good. I hope so. :)

I did some snorkling today at waimea. The water was a bit cold but bereable. I'll try to post pictures as soon as I get access to the Internet on my computer.

Ronaldo in Salt Lake

After a 5 hour flight, I arrived in Salt Lake City. The flight was good. Now we're waiting for the gate to become available. Now there is a very loud Brazilian woman on the cell phone and it is annnoying. Typical Brazilian. lol

So far, so good!

I'm at the gate and so far it appears the flight is on time. I have a short connection in Salt Lake so this thing must leave on time ;). Don't want to just stay in Salt Lake. Do they have snow in there? I hope not. I'm now starting to agree with a joke I heard once in which snow was called "white s$&t". LOL.

On my way to Hawaii!

This time I think it will work. I'm on the airport on my way to Hawaii with a stop on Salt Lake City. Hopefully the flight will leave on time. Let's see...

Police sliding...

Yesterday we had the snow that canceled my flight.... :( I'm going this morning.. but one thing was interesting. I was walking back home on my street (College Av), on the snow, a lot of snow, when I hear this siren of a police car. Then I started to look where it was coming from. For my surprise the police car appeared on the top of the road coming in my direction completely perpendicular to the road, sliding on the snow. At first it was kind of scary because it was coming towards me but when I realized it wasn't really going to hit me I could stop laughing until I got home. The funny thing was the car coming sideways and the officer inside desperately trying to control it. He didn't and smashed on the car parked 6ft from me and also on the parking meter. I couldn't take a photo yesterday but I took one this morning of the meter. It was so funny that it was almost worth it not going to Hawaii (not really). It was also funny the guy in front of me, walking on the sidewalk. When the police car hit the other, he didn't control himself and shouted: "Oh Shit!!" :) Now that I think of it, I think the officer turned the siren on to warn people to get out of the way... He was completely out of control. Just wished I had a video camera there to put it later on youtube.

I hate snow now...

After several snow storms I was already getting upset with it. But now I hate it!!! My flight to Hawaii was cancelled because of this terrible weather. :( I'm trying to see if I fly on Tuesday. I hate this... I was really looking forward to going to Hawaii and now I lost one day there... :(

Hangover

I think I drank last night more than I should have. I had some beers at the Cambridge Common and walked home. There is something about walking at night in a city that fascinates me. I used to do that a lot in Brazil when I was younger, coming back home after a long night. Unfortunately there we can't do this any more because if you do you will die. However here in Boston one can still do that. I like it a lot. And this is the reason why I always walk home after I go to Cambridge Common. With the iPod the walk is even more pleasing.

Gnossiennes No. 1

It's been about 1 hour since I arrived in my room. It's 2:24am. I'm listening to this piece (subject of message) for the 9th time. You need just a couple of beers to realize how beautiful this piece is. I could literally sit here until the morning listening to this piece on repeat. :)

As good as it gets!

McCoy Tyner's concert was amazing. It really doesn't get better than this. Tomorrow I'll post some pictures. Of course he is not as young and versatile as before but he still can swing. It was a great experience.

McCoy Tyner

I'm at the regattabar for the McCoy Tyner concert. It is very exciting given that I'm sitting 6ft from the guy. McCoy Tyner is probably the most important jazz musician I have ever seen. He is one of the greatest jazz piano players of all time. This will be a unique experience. The concert starts in 10min.

Almost ready to go to Hawaii

Just got my snorkeling gear. Now I need to pack. I wish Sarah and the kids were going with me. But if Hawaii is as good as they say, I'll be back there with them :)

Please!!! not Paulo Coelho

I'm riding the T and the person in front of me is reading a book from Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian writer. The problem is that he is one of the worst we have! Why is this always the case? That some of the worst things become very popular?

Routine...

I just got home and speaking to Sarah she asked me to post my routine here in Boston. She thought it was interesting because I told her I fell sometimes I'm in the Pink Floyd the Wall movie where the kids just march like machines. So here it goes...

I wake up at 8am. I stand up to get the phone (the alarm). I go back to bed and check to see if there are important emails and to check to see if Jerry made his move on the chess game. The answer is normally no and yes respectively. I make my chess move. Then I get the towel, put some toothpast on the toothbrush and walk to have my shower and brush my teeth. I come back after the shower to the room. I eat a cereal bar and drink some water from my aluminum bottle. I dress up, take my iPod, iPhone and wallet. Put the music on the iPod on random because I want to check some music I haven't heard yet. Walk for about 10 minutes to the T station. Go down the stairs and wait for the train. While waiting, I take my iPod, put it on random classical music because I have to read. I take my book and start reading waiting for the train to Braintree. The train arrives and I go to the fourth door from the end of the train (closer to my exit). I stand right where the door of the train will be when the train stop to be the first to get in and have a chance to get a chair. I must get a chair because I have to read. I sit, and read for about 35 minutes when I arrive at Downtown Crossing. I leave the train but I don't put my book away. I hold it because it is a short walk to the Orange Line to get the train to Forest Hills. I sit and wait for the train while continue to read my book. When the train arrives I walk to the fourth door from the front of the train. This door will be right in front of the escalator when the train stops at Ruggles station (Northeastern University). I also know where the door is so I normally get a sit and continue to read my book. When the train passes at Back Bay station it goes above ground so I can check to see if Jerry made a move on chess, he normally didn't. I arrive at Ruggles and walk for about 5 minutes to the Physics building. I take the largest elevator because the other doesn't go to the 5th floor. The elevator has a problem, so it always stops on the 3rd floor for about 5-10 seconds. But it continues after and I get to the 5th floor. I'm normally the second person to arrive, since Sune arrives before me. I place my coat on the chair, plug my computer to the power outlet and to the large monitor. I then go to make my latte. I fill my mug with milk and put on the microwave for 2 minutes. When there is 45 seconds to the end, I turn the espresso machine and make a one shot of espresso. It takes it about 40 seconds. So my milk and espresso are ready at the same time. I pour the espresso on the mug full of milk: latte is ready. Go to the desk and check my email and a lot more of some useless stuff. If I have something, I write on the blog. By this time it is around 11am, I stand up and go to the espresso machine and take a shot of espresso. Back to the desk and start working on whatever I decide to work on that day. At 12 noon (sharp), people come to my office to ask if I'm going to get lunch. The answer is yes 99% of the times, and also 99% of the times we go to the burrito place, Qdoba (I'm starting to hate burritos!!). Buy the burrito and bring it back to the lab where we eat and talk about movies (most of the time). At around 1pm lunch is over and we all go back to work. I work all afternoon but just before that I check to see if Jerry made a move on chess, he normally did. I make my move. Work until around 6:30pm when I normally go to the gym to play squash. There I play from 7pm to 8pm. Have a shower and head back to the lab. Before though, I pass on the small grocery store and buy bread, cheese and ham. I get to the lab and make a sandwich. Work again until around 9pm. By then I call Sarah and try to speak to her and Kalil, sometimes I call at 8:30 to speak to Adele too. After the call I work until 10:50. I take my aluminum water bottle and fill it with water (for the next day, go to the top of this text). Walk to Ruggles station but before I put my iPod on shuffle all songs. No matter how much I try, the train normally has just left by the time I arrive at the station. I wait 15 minutes for the next. I can't read anything, just walk around because it is an open station and at that time cold "as hell". When I get on the train I get on the 3rd door from the end. Sit, get my book and put the ipod on shuffle classical. I read my book but I always have to be careful because the train is faster now and I can't miss my exit. I leave the train at Downtown Crossing and run to the other train because if I don't run I miss it. Run to the 6th door from the front of the train because upon exiting the train I'll be in front of the escalator. Sit (no problem finding sits at this time of the night). As the train passes on the station Charles MGH, I check the iPhone to see if Jerry made his move, he normally didn't. I arrive at Davis Square (my station) and walk home. This time I walk slowly because I'm tired. I always cross the street in front of the library (two blocks from the station). When I get home, I change, use some lotion for the skin because it is really dry here and I was having problems. I sit in the computer and check my emails again. After that I read a little more (many things) and if it is Friday night I go to hulu.com and watch the Office. Go to bed. If I can't sleep well I drink half a glass of wine and sleep. After that is go back to the top and start everything again!!!!!

THIS IS WHAT I CALL ROUTINE!!!

Institute for Contemporary Art

I went this evening to the Institute for Contemporary Art here in Boston. The are having a special exposition of the work of Shepard Fairey who is the artist responsible for the Obama sign you can see here. Once you see the exposition you really understand why the poster is the way it is. It reflects Fairey's work since his beginning. Interestingly enough, this was the first time he did a poster of a political figure in support of him/her rather than to criticize. The exposition is worth going to and if you're around Boston go on Thursday after 5pm: it's free!! More works from Fairey can be seen in this page from the ICA.

John Abercrombie photos

As I said yesterday, the concert was awesome. Here are some pictures. The band was John on Guigar, Gary Versace in the Hammond organ and Adam Nussbaum on drums. Both John and Adam are very well known but I didn't know the organ player. 

However he impressed me in a good way. Very consistent and 

showing complete control over the instrument. His solos were 

solid. We might start seeing him around more often. After all he is already playing with some of the greats such as John and Adam. 

John Abercrombie

I just arrived from John Abercrombie's concert. It was a nice set with the trio playing in a good sync. It was an organ trio (guitar,drums,organ). They played for about 1:20hs. The organ player I did not know but he was amazing. In fact, playing that "thing" must be hard with you having to use your feet also. Tomorrow I'll post some pictures. Now I have to check if Jerry made his move on chess. ;)

John Abercrombie

This evening I'm going to John Abercrombie's concert also at the Regattabar. The only problem is that the concert is at 7:30pm which IMO is just a bit early for a concert. In any case, I expect it to be a good concert. He will play in a Organ Trio. 

Jacky Terrasson Pictures

I'm posting some pictures from the Jacky Terrason concert last Saturday.