Happy Halloween!

We're recovering from our (unrelated to Halloween) weekend trip to NYC. Stay tuned for stories from our last couple of crazy good weeks. In the meantime, we hope you have a trick-free and treat-full Halloween!

dinner and a movie: messy but good

A couple weekends ago, we met up with indie-film-loving and Coolidge-Corner-Theatre-membership-carrying friends Brad and Caitlin. Because we haven't been taking advantage of the free after 6 p.m. Sundays perk to our membership.

We started our dinner and a movie night at Blue Ribbon Bar-B-Q in Arlington, our taste buds skeptical but hopeful. It's gotten rave reviews, but we keep in mind that New England good barbecue isn't always the same as Midwestern good barbecue.

This was good barbecue period, and decently priced to boot. Ian and I got sandwiches (TX brisket and KC burnt ends), two sides each, and drinks, plus cornbread and a slice of pie to share, all for under $25.

Tips: don't miss their delicious homemade pickles at the condiment table, and make sure one of your sides is a potato option (mashed or salad), because they really know how to make a spud taste good.

The place is tiny but full of character. Most customers called in their orders and/or took their food to go. There isn't a lot of seating, but it wasn't too cold to take advantage of their outdoor tables.

After we couldn't eat anymore, we licked our fingers, wiped our faces, packed up our leftovers (including our still-untouched slice of sweet potato pie), and drove back to Coolidge Corner, just in time for the 7 p.m. showing of Drive.

The last time we went to the Coolidge expecting an action/thriller, it turned out to be an awkward and disappointing character study that fell flat. Drive is also a character study masquerading as an action/thriller, but the similarities end there. Drive received it's R rating for a small handful of short, Quentin Tarantino-esque bursts of violence, not uncomfortable hooker scenes. It also had an 80s vibe in music, typography, and color (the cars, on the other hand, were not stuck in the 80s). The script was pared down to only the essentials, relying on the incredible acting to give it body. Everything in the movie seemed so purposeful. Even though I felt most of it went over my head, it provided depth.

Be prepared for a few violent scenes — they are short and spread across the movie. Only the middle few are extremely graphic; the crescendo and decrescendo of depicted violence seems, again, purposeful, but I haven't deciphered it yet.

This was a fantastic film that didn't disappoint; we couldn't stop talking about it the whole way home. Overall, I give dinner, movie, and great company four stars.

Anna + Ian in the DR: another Skype session

We were able to Skype with Luis and Dilson a couple Fridays ago. He and his family are doing well: Jason is adjusting to the poly-technical school he started a month ago and is starting to enjoy it, Dilson is studying hard and eating well, and Reina passed with flying colors the tests she took while we were there in pursuit of her degree (I think in psychology and/or teaching?). Luis, who just got back from a G.O. retreat, was beaming as usual, sharing how they miss us, can't wait for us to come back, and are continually praying for us. It's a good reminder to be more intentional in praying for them, our friends and partners.

La Mosca continues to have issues with violence, but they are making progress. A few households can't make it to Sunday services, so Luis goes to their homes and holds mini-services, which neighbors also attend. He also asked us to pray for twins Juan and Jose; people in our group have gotten to know them over the past couple years. They've been busy working (they have a large family to support) and missing services. Luis wants to make sure they continue to grow in their faith. He also updated us on his son Luicito (pre-Reina in Luis's street thug days). Luicito isn't happy with his life away from God, but continues to put off commitment to change. They continue to love on him, and I know they would appreciate prayer.

We hope you can continue to pray for the Vargas family and La Mosca alongside us!

go squirrel, go!

A while back, Micah and Marianna invited us to join them for some college football. Thanks to one of their friends who coaches at BC, they had free tickets to the Wake Forest game on October 1.

Boston is a sports-crazy city (see Sox, Celtics, and Bruins). But the enthusiasm doesn't generally extend to college sports (unless you're talking ice hockey).

I think this is best illustrated by the fact that the goal line cross eliciting the most cheers was executed by a lost squirrel, whose appearance near the line of scrimmage paused the game. He ran from midfield to the goal line, then celebrated just a little in his new-found sports celebrity status.

Boston College didn't fare as well, losing to Wake Forest 27-19. The game reminded me what I miss about fall back in Kansas: spending Saturdays in Bill Snyder Family Stadium doing the Wabash. Thankfully, in addition to spending some quality time with Micah and Marianna, we were able to enjoy the second half of the game behind the Wake Forest bench, chatting with new REUNION friends who moved here from NYC and happen to be K-State architecture alum.

We left the game in the middle of the fourth quarter to watch K-State on some big screens. When you can't be at the game, cheering on the 'Cats with good friends over cheesy tots and nachos is the next best thing.

countdown to iPhones

We've been saving up as we waited for the lastest iPhone model announcement and release. (If you only knew how easily I get lost in Boston, you'd understand why I'm really going to benefit from an upgrade to a smart phone.)

We aren't getting them tomorrow. We're nerdy enough to wait in line, but we already have other plans. Which works out pretty well for us. We want to make sure our investments are protected from day 1, and the delay gives us flex time to wait for our personalized cases to arrive. (Guess which one's mine...)

Uncommon has a simple interface for designing iPhone + iPod cases.

01. Upload your own image or use one from their library.
02. Position and resize until you're happy.
03. Order.

We've heard great reviews from friends and well-loved blogs: they're good cases, and their printing technology really doesn't scratch or peel. As quasi-designers/artists, we were thrilled to find out this was a possibility within reach, for not significantly more than in-store options ($35-40 + shipping). Confession: that Uncommon only makes iPhone cases factored into my phone decision.

Ecstatic photos with the real things (cases + iPhones) in the near future.

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

screenshot from apple.com

"RIP Steve Jobs. You touched an ugly world of technology and made it beautiful. You changed the world. Things won't be the same without you." —Matt Galligan (@mg)

We saw the news last night around 11pm, and read the New York Times article on our new MacBook Pro. Fitting.

Steve created some of my favorite things: aforementioned MacBook Pro, my previous model (6+ years and still trucking), our future first iPhones (we're getting them in a couple weeks, but I'm already predicting they make the list), and Pixar. It's hard to imagine what the world, our lives, would look like today without his influence on technology and design. Beautiful, simple, forward thinking.

In the words of Toy Story's Little Green Men, "We are eternally grateful."

Ian wrote a book

Ian wrote a book. Anna has a degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing, and Ian is the published author. Go figure. It's a grown-up picture book, and if you've seen Ian's sketching and rendering skills, you'll know how amazing that is.

Investigating the Creative Process: Sketching Palestra Green is published through Lulu.com, and also is listed on Amazon. (Although right now it's probably easier to order through Lulu.)

The book emerged from a suggestion by one of his professors during his master's project presentation. It's a companion book to his master's project, Dynamism at Palestra Green, that explores the process of design and includes many of the idea-generating sketches not included in his final master's report.

We'd love it if you bought the book — not because we make much money at all from sales (promise, it's peanuts), but because it's so cool he's published, and he loves sharing what he does with others.