Binghamton Diversionary Weekend

After the LISSA Holiday party, I headed up to spend the weekend in Binghamton. I got there pretty late, and we had a delicious pizza that Scott had made. You wouldn't think broccoli would work in a pizza sauce, but it does. If you puree the broccoli, the sauce turns more of an orangish color. We also watched the movie the Ninth Gate with Johnny Depp.

The next day brought the 4th departamental holiday party in a row, this time the Electrical Engineering department. Scott's finally listed on the faculty page, BTW. It was a difficult task to find any store selling wine to bring to the party. We first hit something like Sam's Beer Barn or Beer Depot, which had Ommegang's Three Philosophers beer. (Ommegang of that raspberry lambit beer fame.) The grocery stores up here don't sell wine, but they do sell beer. One wine store we found was closed, and it was only after driving around in Endicott that we ran across a small liquor store, which was open, and provided us with a local wine for the party. (Note, in DC you cannot buy liquor in a store on Sundays. The grocery store liquor sections are gated up, and everything else is closed.)

Afterwards, we picked up Scott's friend and piper Ryan, and headed up to Ithaca for the Irish music session. I played my fiddle a few times, and it's an interesting set of characters that play there. We stopped by a kelzmer jam session across the street. I eventually had to leave. I must admit that a few of the more improvisational art dancers were kinda disturbing to watch. That and the frenzy of the music at the late hour convinced me that it was time to go.

Monday was my last day in Binghamton, unbeknownst to Rich. He thinks I'm coming back on Wed., but I'm really heading back on Tuesday for his surprise birthday party. On Monday, I got to see Dr. Scott's new office, and largely sat around while he held office hours for peopel before their final the next day. We at the Spiedie and Rib Pit for lunch and made the Brazilian Shrimp Stew sans Shrimp. Scott also cooked up a couple of pumpkin pies for me to bring back for the party. The Wegman's grocery store up here rents movies, so we checked out a night of Ben Stiller fun with DodgeBall and Envy. While Dodgeball was funny, I think Envy was much better in terms of guest appearences by Christopher Walken.