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A couple weekends ago, Raff, Sharma, Tom, and I descended on Canandaigua, New York, for the Black Keys and Flaming Lips concert on July 23. The concert was great, as was hanging out with everyone around Canandaigua and on the lake. Those guys took off for home on Sunday, but Nathan and I went up to Niagara Falls after dropping them off at the Rochester airport.

The remainder of my time in Boston was as excellent as the first couple days. After Kelly and I spent Tuesday together, I had the rest of the week to spend at the MIT Information Quality Industry Symposium, and then spent some more time with Kelly on Saturday. The symposium was excellent—especially the keynote speakers—and I met a number of interesting IQ professionals.

I’ve been in New York since Thursday, first in NYC visiting Devon and then in Canandaigua visiting Nathan and going to see The Black Keys and The Flaming Lips. I’ll post a more detailed update tomorrow (along with notes about the rest of my Boston trip) but I wanted to share pictures from the concert, skiing on Canandaigua Lake and my day trip to Niagara Falls.

I’ve been in Boston since yesterday, as I’m attending the 2010 MIT Information Quality Industry Symposium later this week, and I thought I’d use the opportunity to spent some time visiting Kelly. We’ve had a good time hanging out—we had dinner and drinks at John Harvard’s Brew House last night, and visited the New England Aquarium this afternoon.

Happy 30th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

See coverage in the Dispatch, and eventually we should see it in the Galva News, too.

The story of the surprise party we threw can be found here.

The last few weeks have been nothing if not hectic. On May 22nd, we celebrated Aunt Margaret and Uncle Bob’s recent marriage, and over Memorial Day weekend Tom, Katie, Kelly, and I threw a surprise 30th Anniversary party for Mom and Dad.  Between preparing to celebrate, actually celebrating, and (oh yeah) work during the week, it’s been pretty crazy.

The Holts traveled to Champaign, Illinois, on May 16, to attend the University of Illinois’ 2010 Commencement Ceremony, which celebrated Katie’s graduation from that fine institution. While she actually completed her degree in last December, the College of Applied Health Sciences doesn’t offer a December ceremony, so we waited until May.

There are more pictures in the gallery, and there is a video of the ceremony after the break (you can see Katie from 1:44:09 to 1:44:20).

Last weekend I went into the great city of Chicago to help my buddy Devon Sharma celebrate his being accepted to the New York Bar. (We were also celebrating his brother’s completion of medical school. Smart family, the Sharmas.) A bunch of us were invited to Maggiano’s in Oak Brook for Saturday afternoon.

I arrived at Tom’s apartment around 7:30 Friday night. Since the Blackhawks were about to start, we ordered some Indian food for delivery and settled in to watch some hockey. I gave Tom a hard time for eating with his left hand as we devoured the chicken tikka masala and tandoori chicken. The Blackhawks destroyed the villainous Canucks 7–4, and Tom and I decided to go out and meet up with our cousins Kelly and Kara.

I can’t believe we missed this…

Last weekend seven other ΑΚΛs and I traveled to Louisville, Kentucky, to take in the 2010 Kentucky Derby. Adam Kaniewski, Mike Gecan, and I picked up the RV, while Ken Raffenetti, Chris McCann, Jeff Throm, Nate Smith, and David Meixner all found their way into town one way or another. Everyone arrived Thursday, April 29, and we parted ways on Sunday, May 2.

More pictures are available in the gallery.