Matthew Engel

December 23, 2008

Today the Yankees landed first baseman Mark Teixeira luring him from the Angels, during this lucrative trade season. The 28-year-old switch-hitter found a new home after Super Agent Scott Boras brokered the eight-year contract worth approximately $180 million.

This is great news, as some protection was needed for Yankee’s slugger Alex Rodriguez. Alex is coming off another nice year batting .302 with 33 doubles. In addition, the Yankees have added infamous starting pitchers C.C. Sabathia (lefty) and A. J. Burnett to their rotation. Next year in the new stadium will be amazing and indeed, they do have fine taste.

Hello All! We are having a concert in the Staller Center this Wednesday November 19, 2008. The Stony Brook University Wind Ensemble is led by conductor Bruce Engel (Hi Dad!), a fabulous director and musician. Come and watch, it will definitely be worth your while!

This fall, I was invited to attend the wedding of a good friend of mine. It was one of the most spectacular displays I have ever witnessed, with extravagant foods presented over 12 courses and enough flowers for 3 weddings. It was truly amazing, and I will try and post some photos.

As a wedding gift, I painted him a watercolor piece depicting the first line of the Shema, a Jewish prayer. Alex met his fiance in Israel, while studying at Yeshiva.

Below I show the evolution of the piece starting from my inking, to the watercolored layers, to the frame. Enjoy!

I have decided to update this website. It has been in the current format for roughly, one year. I want to make a page which is easier to read. Probably there will be more words, and less pictures. However, I will keep all my original pages intact so you can still access them.

Matt

A beautiful sunset in my backyard. Northport, NY. Taken July 2008 by Carolin.

Today was truly a special day. I got to spend it with the people I love most and be in close contact with those who have seen me through my graduate education. If you can even call it that, my experience at Stony Brook has been much more that just a simple or traditional education - it has been an overall growing period, a true time of learning and working towards something meaningful. Much has been accomplished outside of the classroom, breaking the traditional academic stereotype. I have learned alot about people and built several new and meaningful relationships. Working with fresh colleagues, experiencing successes and failures, making connections, exploring new career paths and challenging myself have all been an important part of the last year.

Stony Brook  University - Graduation 2008, MS

If you enjoy great music, to my concert! The Stony Brook Wind Ensemble - Wednesday, April 16 @ 8PM.

Stony Brook Staller Center.

Wow, I just came back from a friend’s house and tried something new and really exciting - I learned how to ride a motorcycle! Jon’s got two bikes, and being as its gorgeous out today, we took them out. True, this bike was no Harley, but it was fast and I got the hang of it quickly. Just a little trouble getting it the bike started, but I only stalled out once, then figured out how the clutch works in like a minute. Can’t beleive I’ve lived 25 years without this - guess your parents don’t teach you everything after all…ha. But seriously, it was so much fun and really exhilerating knowing that a tap of the button zaps you to like 60mph in seconds. Ok, I didn’t go that fast on my first try, but I got into second gear and made some nice turns. Ahh, spring is here…

Hi guys! Here is also a link to my professional website:

http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Stu/maengel/

Check it out! What do you think?

Two weeks ago I came back from one of the most spectacular trips of my life. You can read all about it on my travel bog. When I returned, I realized there was no picture of me on this page! That is now fixed, and there is a shot of me below, the genuine article.

Athens, Greece - The Acropolis