Cooking for Brevitt

Ramblings from the Island

The one and only Brevitt has been in Iceland for almost a week now and I figured it was time for a weekly ramble about nothing and a few other things sprinkled on top.

Away with the show!

• The Boston Red Sox should sign Schilling I think - one more year with an incentive laden contract will get it done
• I miss my bed, but I miss Boston more
• The office coffee here has something wrong with it, luckily the Te and Kaffi store next door is really good!
• My sleeping pattern is all messed up
• Sometimes I wish answers would just come to me and not hide under my bed
• T-Day in Michigan has been activated!
• I'm worried I won't be able to get my color appointment for my tattoo done before my artist leaves on maternity break, which means I might need to wait until March 2008
• Being forced to walk through a 10-minute scripted speech in a video game is not good game design - especially when the story could be told much faster with less walking
• I miss driving my car. Maybe next weekend I'll take a long drive around ATL with the windows down and The Chemical Brothers blasting away
• When do you truly have to grow up?
• Curious if customs would arrest me if I wore a TMNT mask
• When flux comes, do you ride the wave or plow straight through it on your own course?
• Nachos would be great right now
• So would some Wii Bowling

That's it for right now. Back to doing some work before the craziness begins!

Iceland, Sox, Rain and More

Few random thoughts for the day:

• Brevitt has landed safely in Iceland as of 6:30 this morning thanks to the pilots of Icelandair who had favorable winds and decided to fly at 700mph. Although I arrived an hour earlier than I was supposed to, my driver was waiting for me which was good and away we went.
• The Hotel Cabin should be named the Hotel Closet - it has by far the smallest rooms I've ever seen.
• The Boston Red Sox won 13-1 last night! I'm excited for the team, but bummed that I'll be in Iceland the entire Series and won't be able to catch any of the action.
• It's been rainy here for days and it doesn't look like it will end anytime soon - sweet!
• I'm missing a lot of things about home right now, so looking forward to getting back to the States once this trip is wrapped up.
• The Lord and MC Winks are becoming quite good at Halo 3.
• Magic the Gathering is meant for people over the age of 13, but my deck will still kick that crap out of The Lord's deck!

Well that's it for now - it's a bit crazy with little sleep and so much going on, but check back in soon kids as I start to post a bit more.

Back in NYC

Back in the Big Apple for some work this week so haven't had a chance to post up until today. Waiting for some new meetings to start and thought I'd throw up my thoughts from the trip so far.

• Thanks to the UN being in session here, traffic and taxis have been a pain in the ass all week long!
• Ono is really good and I must go back there in the future
• Right up the street is Buddakan which is a great little spot for drinks - try the Redemption
• Got to finally play Bioshock and Halo 3 on this kick-ass HD Projector from Samsung that throws out a 1080p image at 100" - fuckin sweet for these two games!
• The weather here is hot and humid - weird that I came North to find the last days of summer
• Picked up some new Pumas! About time too, my current Addidas are pretty beat up

Besides that it's been pretty low key.

Update: Mission Move Meh Shit

Well lookie here I say! Looks as if my stuff is finally going to arrive (maybe) tomorrow afternoon (give or take 24 hours). It's about damn time Russian Mafia! I know NYC is back up in the Northeast, but it shouldn't take you 12-days (depending on traffic conditions) to get to the Durty!

So in celebration of my stuff actually showing up (possibly) I'd like to present GWB mad as hell about the wait time for my move.

Shibuya: A Taste of the Upcoming Brevitt World Tour

Coming to places far and wide in 2008 is the Brevitt World Tour featuring Brevitt and the Lord of All.....first stop you may ask? Japan of course! It's fate that Game|Life over at Wired posted a quick photo trip through Shibuya.

Go check out pics from the Shibuya district.

Why Moving Sucks Ass

I had to use a moving company for this recent move of mine and unfortunately I only had a short window to find someone to do the work. I'm sure you can see where this post is headed already.....

The main question I have this - when you have a signed contract that says your stuff will be delivered on 9/9, why is there no recourse against the company if they call and tell you they won't actually deliver it until 9/19? For those that are counting - that is 10-days AFTER the signed contract.

In what other industry is this allowed?

1,200 Miles Later.....

Not to worry kidz, after a long four or five days Brevitt is alive and well in the Durty Durty. It took me roughly 1,200 miles, 10 states and 2.5 days to complete, but I'm in my new home on what I've dubbed an 'extended business trip'. Who knows what the future will hold, but for right now I've traded in my wool for linen.

Some highlights from the drive down:

• Having your right rear tire essentially explode while driving is not fun - luckily we got off the road safe and were near hotels and tire shops!
• The Russian Mafia aka my moving company should be avoided at all costs - that is unless you enjoy not getting your stuff when you were told you would be getting it
• Restaurants in South Carolina still have smoking sections which is just weird to me

Beyond that all is going well - love the place, getting used to the area and settling into my new routine. Watch for more exciting posts in the coming days....

Worst Drivers in New England?

Take a poll someday and ask people who the worst drivers in New England are and I almost guarantee that everyone would reply with the same answer: people from Massachusetts, especially Boston. Go try it and report back your findings...

Now I'm not taking away the key characteristics on Bostonian drivers: aggressive, fast, horn friendly. But, I just don't believe that they are the worst in New England. Given my travels the last few weeks for work I think a new entrant should be pushed to the top position:

Connecticut

Yes, that's right - in my opinion the drivers within the fine state of Connecticut are worse drivers than those from Boston!  Now I realize that my opinion is only based on  six or so trips to Norwalk in the last few weeks, but still...I saw enough to formalize my view.  Let me highlight some of what I saw:

• Apparently in CT the left lane is for cruising at the speed limit which is interesting
• The left lane is also used by 90% of the drivers on the roads - again, that's one way of doing it I guess
• The idea of keeping a safe distance between the car in front of you hasn't been taught apparently as I saw no less than 8 rear-end accidents occur due to traffic and drivers not paying attention
• Quick tip State of Connecticut - it's called asphalt, maybe you use some of it on the highways going through your state - not really digging the crappy ass roads you have down there
• Turn signals are used BEFORE making a turn - yes I realize we in Boston have a hard time understanding this concept as well, but felt it was worse in CT

Well that's about it - I'm sure I could dig up a few other instances, but that's enough. Although I'm glad I made the drive down there so many times as it gave me a chance to open up the 337 a bit more which is always fun, but dizamn was dealing with the drivers down there frustrating!

So let me know what you think - Massachusetts, Connecticut or maybe Maine...who knows?!?

Good Eats: Iceland Style

I'm always looking for fun and new things to eat and it's part of the reason why I enjoy traveling to Iceland as much as do these days - the food! Although you can find the stables that would make any American happy, it's those adventurous nights out that I get really excited about.

Last night was one of those.

Although we were originally going to go to the Seafood Cellar, we decided to hit a new spot I hadn't been before and settled on Silfur which is right downtown in the Hotel Borg. So what did we sample at this dinner you ask?

• Confit of tomato with balsamic
• Langoustine with grape sauce and saffron crema
• Lamb with fennel crust
• Vanilla salted-cod
• Monkfish with pea risotto

There were a few other items in there of course, but those were the highlights. I can't explain how good the cod was.......the combination with vanilla was unlike anything else I've ever had before.

So add Silfur to your list of places to eat when you come visit Iceland!

Club Night Blues

Let me cut right to the point on this one - I'm staying at a new hotel for this trip in Iceland and it's maybe one of the worst experiences I've had. Unfortunately all of the other hotels are booked for this week, so I'm stuck at the Park Inn - do yourself a favor and don't stay here.

Oh wait - you want to know why....ok then, let me list them out:

• No interwebz! Ok I'm lying, but you have to pay for it in either one-hour or 24-hour blocks of time.....that's convenient for business travelers, huh?
• The restaurant is only open in the summer
• The heat doesn't turn off until the summer and there is only one very small window that you can open
• If you request from the front desk for a wake-up call - they say they will call, but they don't
• The lobby also doubles as the main smoking area which makes walking into the hotel interesting if you are like me and smoking really bothers you

And I'll be open here and maybe some of these issues are minor in the big picture. There are some great things about the hotel too, but what happened last night really sealed the deal for me on not wanting to ever stay at the Park Inn again....let me paint that picture as well.

There is a nighclub right next door to the hotel entrance, but within the same structure. During my stay here, it's never been that bad because they have been running a Tina Turner tribute show (yes, I just wrote that sentence and it is 100% true - it's a Icelandic Broadway show covering all of Tina's songs). But last night - something unlike anything I've ever seen here happened...the place became THE club spot for the night! Hundreds of people were pouring into this place as cars and taxis kept zooming by. There was even an appearance by the local Hummer limo - oh man! I have no idea what was going on there, but it was like Lansdowne Street in Boston on a Friday night.

I'm serious and seeing that people party until 5 or 6 in the morning here, let's just say that it was an interesting evening of sleep.

So let's recap:

• Love Iceland
• Not a fan of the Park Inn
• Partying until 5am is fun
• Nightclubs are fun
• Having a nightclub directly below your hotel room where people are partying until 5am - ehhh...not so much

Let me close with this: yesterday it was light out from around 7am until 11pm - it's really odd, but very cool at the same time.