According to my calendar, yesterday was the first day of autumn. When I mentioned that to Jen we sort of stopped to reflect on the events of the past summer. I have to say that it was probably the best summer I've had since I was a kid and summer really meant something (ie: school vacation). Here is a quick recap of things that happened, starting about mid-June.
I saw Mary Timony live for the first time at the Middle East-Upstairs:
I went to my first New Hampshire Fisher Cats game in Manchester as part of Jen's company's outing. It was a little scary meeting my girlfriend's co-workers for the first time, but (almost) everyone was cool and we had a good time... despite the cold weather:
We went to Fenway and watch the Red Sox beat the San Francisco Giants. It was especially nice to watch the soon-to-be Home Run King (steroid mutant Barry Bonds) get called out on strikes with the tying runs on base. That was fun:
We took a road trip down to Foxwoods and Jen broke the bank at the black jack table. She just sat down and started cleaning them out. It was a site to see:
There were some sad times too as Justin Bissett lost his fight with cancer and passed away on June 26th.
Jen, my brother John, and my (then) soon to be brother in law Ken went to see Rush at the venue formerly known as Great Woods in Mansfield. I didn't quite know it at the time, but it would be the first of many Rush shows. I also took the obligatory horrible camera phone pictures:
Jen, Nawal, Larry, and I went to Minuteman National Park and saw George Washington (re-enacted) in his (re-enacted) prime:
We went back to Fenway to see the Red Sox lose to the Texas Rangers. It was the best seats I've ever had at Fenway (and I've had good ones before). We saw Josh Beckett pitch in what should be a Cy Young Award winning season. We also Eric Gagne pitch for the Rangers prior to being traded to Boston (where he's generally sucked up a storm):
I flew solo for a return trip to Connecticut, this time Mohegan Sun, to see Rush for the second time. It was a spur of the moment thing and Jen couldn't come with me. I wish she had been there. It would have been more fun. As it was I saw Rush playing better than I had seen them in a terribly long time... possibly ever. And more horrid pictures were taken:
We went to see the new Harry Potter movie about 100 times, including a couple of 3-D IMAX showings that were really fantastic:
Jen and I went to see Buffalo Tom at the Paradise. It was the first time she'd seen them, and my first time in quite a long time:
Lisa and Ken were kind enough to ask me to be a groomsman in their wedding. I went to the rehearsal dinner one night:
The groomsmen played a bloodthirsty, cutthroat game of miniature golf the next afternoon:
And then later that evening my big sister got married. The wedding went perfectly. Everyone had a great time. Once again, congratulations to Lisa and Ken:
The Geyers came home from Wisconsin for a week and we celebrated by going to see The Simpsons Movie... Spider Pig, Spider Pig...
Mike and I also wet to see The Police at Fenway Park. I expected it to be excellent, and it was better than I'd hoped. (a bunch of us are going to see them at the Garden in November):
Jen and I went to see Dave Matthew's at the venue formerly known as Great Woods. It too was an excellent show. Dave won me over. That same night we all managed to survive the apocalypse (as predicted by theonion.com... I was a little nervous about that one. I figured if anyone was going to pick the right date it was going to be The Onion.)
Jen and Larry and I went to see Jennifer Tefft play at the Lizard Lounge. It was the first time I'd seen her in years and she was just as good that night as she was the last time.
Jen and I had a whole slew of great weekends together. Some of them were rediculously busy, others were more like flake time. On one occasion we found an ice cream stand in Derry, NH that had a few animals hanging around that you could feed. This coincided with me getting a new phone and the camera phone picture quality increased a little... a little. Still, wild animals eating out of your hand is pretty cool:
Kay Hanley once again graced Boston with her awesome rocker presence. I saw her play at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge and it was so cool:
Jen and Larry and I went to the venue formerly known as Harborlights to see Come Together: A Tribute to Brad Delp. There we saw just about every band Brad had ever played in as well as a few other notable Boston area bands. It hopefully will be the last time we see the band Boston. It was sad to see them play without Brad Delp fronting them, and I can only hope they don't try and press on without him:
We had a new experience... Game Night at the Beach. It was also Jen's first game night experience:
Then came the month of September. Better known as Travelin' Month. First Jen and I took a trip out to Wisconsin to visit the Geyers in their natural habitat. (well, natural for 2/3 of the Geyers at least). Nine month old [incredibly cute baby's name deleted] proved to be the most adorable baby I've seen in a very long time:
[incredibly cute picture of incredibly cute baby deleted]
I saw my first major league baseball game in a stadium that isn't called Fenway Park. We saw the Brewers kick the shit out of the Astros at Miller Park in Milwaukee. I was hoping for some offensive fireworks from Prince Fielder (who I'll always think of as Cecil's kid). He was one of about 100 Brewers hitters who homered:
Jen and I got to visit a Great Lake for the first time in our lives. Lake Michigan to be precise:
We all did some exploring in Milwaukee. It's a very nice city. It seems smaller than Boston, but it had it's own charm. I enjoyed our time there:
Jen, Mike, and I went to see Rush (my third show of the tour) at the Marcus Amphitheater in Milwaukee. It might be the most relax I've ever seen them. Even Neil Peart was goofing around here and there:
And of course it wouldn't have been Wisconsin if we didn't see at least a few cows:
Upon returning from the Mid-West we had a few days at home. On one of those days I met Jen's kids for the first time. I was really nervous about this, but fortunately they are great kids and they made it easy on me. I did not spontaneously combust or anything.
Then it was time for trip 2. New York City babie! We spent the better parts of three days in the city and sort of stuck to the touristy things. We saw some public performance art which, judging by the harshness of the police response, was probably illegal too. The cops roughted this guy up a little. From what I can tell he must have been busted for littering. This is on top of the giant globe in front of the Trump Tower in Columbus Circle:
We took a horse drawn carriage ride through Central Park:
Being a pair of Beatles nuts we had to see the John Lennon memorial, Strawberry Fields, in Central Park. Our carriage driver pointed out that there are no strawberries growing there:
We got to experience Times Square at night. It's like a giant television commercial:
Of course I took hundreds of pictures off skyscrapers. I sort of have a thing for photographing cool buildings, and New York is pretty much the place to do that. Two of my favorites were the Trump Tower:
and of course the Empire State Building:
Among our tourist activities was a trip to the top of the Empire State Building:
and a ferry out to Liberty Island:
Of course the whole excuse for the trip to New York was to see Rush at Madison Square Garden. My fourth show of the tour and Jen's third:
Then on Saturday, the last day of Summer, we went to King Richard's Faire in Carver, MA and enjoyed some good old fashioned senseless violence... Rennaisance style:
Now Sunday was the first day of Fall so it really doesn't fit into the over all theme of I-Know-What-I-Did-This-Summer, but it should be noted that we went to see Mission of Burma at what may be the coolest venue I've ever been to. The show was at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. There is a small 300 or so seat theater inside and two of the walls are floor to ceiling (probably two story) windows with the view being Boston harbor. We listened to Burma shred through a monster set (including three new songs!) as we watched boats of all shapes and sizes sailing in and out of the harbor. It was a really cool place to see a really phenominal band:
So there you have it. Some (but not all) of the high points of the summer. Now that it's fall we can get ready for play-off baseball and the start of the hockey season as well as a ton of great concerts. This may have been the best summer of my adult life (it's all my girlfriend's fault of course). Here's to hoping the autumn keeps the good times streak alive.
Good Day
Of course, the girlfriend I repeatedly mentioned in that post is now universally known as my wife. Things just keep getting better with each passing day.
I love you Jen!
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