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This weekend was a busy one with both my Mom and Amanda’s birthdays to celebrate.
For my Mom’s birthday we met at Bangkok 54 in South Arlington. I’ve heard good things about it, and passed it many times on the way to the Arlington Cinema n’ Drafthouse but never eaten there. The food was good, above average for some of the Thai places that I’ve eaten. On the other hand, I can confirm the common complaint that the restaurant is on the noisy side, and it wouldn’t hurt to investigate some noise dampening.

Amanda’s birthday celebration spanned two weekends. If you haven’t checked out my Flickr photostream, pictures from last weekend’s limo excursion out to the Leesburg wineries is up here. Last night we celebrated again with more friends in DC at one of our favorite places, Matchbox. Of course we got our favorite sliders with addictive onion strings, washed it down with a few De Koninck beers, and followed it up with a few more at Buffalo Billiards in Dupont. Busy weekend, but ready for this week to get started.

It’s been five days here in Bangalore, India and I think I’m starting to get in the swing of things. Getting to work each day has been an adventure with the traffic patterns being much different than back in the US. Driving a vehicle on the streets of Bangalore is much like walking in a crowd. There are lines on the streets, but it means nothing. Cars, motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians pass each other inches apart. At first I thought it was much like China, but now that I’ve commuted for five days – I realize that it’s much more chaotic. Thankfully, Chris and I have a driver that comes to pick us up from our hotel each morning at 9am and we get to work at Ecospace Campus (which is 3-4 miles away) in about 45 minutes. He also takes us back to the hotel, or to a restaurant or shopping if we want to.

I’ve never been on a business trip, but I think I like it. Other than missing the comforts of my home, friends and family – I get to experience a country for free. I’ve eaten at very interesting restaurants (Bombay Post, BBQ Nation), drank Kingfisher beer, witness a wedding, play a Sitar, and meet my Indian AOL colleagues. It took much less time to adjust to being in India than I thought. Possibly because Bangalore is a city of technology. If you’re company isn’t represented here already, you’re already late to the game.

This weekend marks the start of Ganesh Chaturthi, or Ganesh Festival, celebrating the birthday of Hindu God Ganesh, which lasts for an odd number of days (usually 1 to 11). Walking around yesterday, there were statues of Ganesh prepared to be displayed this weekend. We still haven’t hit tourist market central, MG Road, but definitely plan on hitting that this weekend.

I have 3.5 days left. Unfortunately we won’t get to travel up to Agra to see the Taj Mahal but there is so much more to see here in Bangalore. Other than that, the training sessions that Chris and I are conducting have been very productive and well received. I’m looking forward to taking advantage of all this city has to offer.

As always, keep checking out the constantly updated set on Flickr: India Trip.

Oy, I got back from the beach a few days ago, but I’ve been so darn busy catching up that I haven’t had a chance to post anything. As many of you knew, last week I turned another year older and I pretty much stretched out birthday celebrations over a week. Last Saturday, I celebrated my birthday with two friends that also have August birthdays and some of our closest friends. We pre-gamed pretty hard, and then finished up at the Clarendon Ballroom. The next day, I held myself together long enough to celebrate my Grandma’s 89th birthday. She’s in good health, and can still cook up a storm.

On my actual birthday we headed over to Sette Bello in Clarendon for some Italian. I’ve eaten there a few times before, but this was the worst service they’ve ever provided. We couldn’t get a decent table (we first got seated at a picnic-like table but then settled for a four top, when there were five of us) and orders were mis-heard thanks to a waiter that liked to stay at least 7 feet away from whoever was ordering. The food was good, but service has to get better for it to be a complete package.

Finally, the weekend after my birthday, I took my annual trip to Ocean City with Amanda, Nick and Amy. We indulged all weekend, but unfortunately snapping pictures escaped my mind. The only thing that I got a picture of was the table buzzer in the shape of a lobster we got at Sunset Grille. I’ll be back in OC in a couple weeks to chill out again before starting school back up. Summer, once again, was too short.

Check out all the pictures from last week in my Birthday Weekend 2007 Set on Flickr.

This weekend was very busy. Friday night Amanda and I went into the city for the Wizards/Cav’s game. Before the game we hit up one of our favorite downtown spots, Matchbox, for some mini burgers and a pizza. Unfortunately both Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas were injured, but LeBron James and Antawn Jamison still put on a show. The game was very close for the first 3.5 quarters, but as LeBron turned it on Jamison went ice cold. We lost 99-95, but it was still a great game.

Saturday night, we went to eat at Maestro in Tyson’s at the Ritz. It was as swanky as it sounds. We had five course meals complete with little amuse bouche’s all throughout the meal. When I made the reservation, I was able to tell them that I wanted a table with a kitchen view. Watching the chefs and sous chefs work was impressive. Unlike one of my fave shows Hell’s Kitchen, there was no Chef Ramsay yelling at the chefs. It was a very controlled and non-chaotic kitchen. I started off with a cuttlefish/pea concoction, then had some lobster ravioli, brill with grits, charcoal grilled mountain lamb, and finished up with a marzipan souffle. Amanda had the asparagus with mozzarella, mushroom risotto, cod, beef brisket and strip, and some sort of pineapple with raisin glaze. Honestly, I couldn’t even tell you what half the items on the menu were, or about one third of what I ate was…but it was good!

One restaurant off my list – many more to go.