The Vernacularist

A summer slurp

Looking for a special party that you, and only you, can host? How about a sultry summer evening aperitif party:

LACKING the icy gloss of a dry martini or the urbanity of a perfect manhattan, aperitifs have always played the spinster aunt to the cocktail's gin-soaked good-time girl.

Love that sentence. This one is nice too:

All of the guests stayed late into the night, skipping dinner in favor of more shrimp and sipping their way down to the bottoms of the aperitif bottles, all the while maintaining that happy glow just on the other side of sober.

Campari is one of my favorites. When I lived in Padua, Italy, my favorite drink was a Northern Italian speciality called a Spritz: equal parts white wine, Campari, and seltzer. Great balance between bitter and sweet. It's also refreshing for those hot days.

For a more descriptive account of the romance and feeling behind uno spritz, take a read.

If anyone has a good summer cocktail suggestion let me know. I'm gonna throw one of these parties soon.

$100 for a Mile

This is brilliant. Ben Saunders is a habitual adventurer. This time he's trying to raise money for a trip across Antarctica. If fact, he's selling each mile of the 1800 mile journey at $100 a pop. Kottke already took the half-way point.

Get your mile now.

I need to go on vacation

I need to plan a vacation soon or else I'm gonna miss having a warm time in a cool place. [Yes, that was an awful line, but I'm just typing here...no judgement.] Any recommendations for either a Mid-August vacation that won't break the bank, now that I'm less than a month away from the date?

I'm also thinking about going in the third week of September. Still need recommendations, though. I like adventure vacations, if that helps with the creative process for any of you.

On a side note, I spent part of the weekend at my friend Jake's place in bucolic Cornwall, CT. Here is a picture. If any of those attendees want to share some pics from the weekend, please let me know.

Happy Blogosphere Day

SwingStateProject sums it up:

A long time ago, even though it happened one year ago today, there was an event that proved to the whole world the united blogosphere's ability to deploy resources immediately into a single congressional district.

Today is Blogosphere Day. As was announced in October of 2004 and covered by the National Journal last week.

Today is Blogosphere Day and it needs to happen again.

Two weeks from today, there is a special election in Ohio's second congressional district. The Republican is caught in a late-breaking scandal that has made irrelevant all assumptions about the race.

The election will be a big day for Paul Hackett. If he wins, he goes to Washington. If he loses, he goes back to Iraq.

Understandly, Hackett is campaigning as if his life depended upon it...with only two weeks to go.

Go donate here and show your support.

Just gotta get typing

So it's been a while since I posted. I've been working and traveling more than I've wanted to. Just finished a huge report yesterday and went out on the town with some good friends.

Here is a list of everything I've done in the last 4 weeks:

• Went to a Nationals game and sat 8 rows back. Check the photo
  
• Bought a couch...finally! Well worth the wait.
  
• Emptied my childhood home in New York City. As of July 13, the apartment belongs to an investment banker. Cha ching! My apartment here now has tons of furniture so I can actually invite people over and offer them a place to sit.
  
• Had a birthday on July 13 too. 29 years young. Harrison Ford turned 60-something. I have always liked sharing a birthday with Hans Solo and Indiana Jones.
  
• Toured Ground Zero...also on July 13. When I worked for the Twin Towers Fund, I never toured the site because it was still too close to the day of the event. It didn't feel right. I can't say I was happy or sad about the tour. I just felt optimitic about the future of the site.
  
• Saw Dinosaur Jr. concert at 9:30 club. It was a reunion tour with the original members. They only played songs from their first 3 albums and It...Was...Great.

I'm back in the blogging saddle.