I was given an award at work this week. The reward is that Becky and I get an expenses-paid trip to the Ritz-Carlton on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands for four days and three nights in October. OMG, what?! For real.
Posted September 2, 2008 | ∞ | File under: personal, work, yahoo
We’re for reals New Yorkers now, going upstate, up the Hudson, to Tannersville, in the Catskills, for a long holiday weekend. Raina’s boss has a house up there that we’ll be staying in. Rebecca packed games, there’s a grill, there’s nature, it should be a good time. I’ll take pictures.
Went to Lure last night for Raina and Becky’s birthdays (Becky turns 29 on Wednesday, Aug. 6). I had the surf and turf — so good. The service was great. It was fun.
I’m writing this from the new Wordpress application on my iPhone.
Posted August 3, 2008 | ∞ | File under: becky, food, nyc, personal
Doobs and I met up last night to go to the Field-Tested Books reading at The Delancey. It wasn’t what I expected. It was a really crowded space, even without all the people, and there was another party going on at the same time in the same area. It was lame, so we split.
Doobs’s friend Michelle from Paper Mag told him about the Brazilian Girls playing a free show at the Bowery Hotel, which was just up the street, so we decided to walk up to that.
On the way the Bowery Hotel, I wanted to show Doobie the Back Room Bar, a speakeasy style place I’ve been to a couple times which is a block away from The Delancey, hidden in an alley. We walked through the unmarked gate, down the steps and into an alley where all the doors were locked. With no markings, I was doubting that I got the right place and thought maybe it was just a den for junkies where we could get stabbed. We bounced and went to the Bowery.
The outdoor patio at the Bowery Hotel is an awesome space. There were a bunch of pretty fashiony people and there was an open bar. It was a space I was hoping the Field Tested Books reading would have been in. Unfortunately, the open bar was sponsored by Belvedere vodka so it was only vodka drinks, nothing else. We tried to drink the girly, fruity bottled cocktails but couldn’t do it. And after a while, the Brazilian Girls still hadn’t come on and the pretty fashiony people became annoying snotty looking people, so we bounced. There was a mass of people trying to get in as we left. McSorley’s is just a few blocks from the Bowery Hotel, so we went there.
McSorley’s is the oldest tavern in the city, circa 1854. They serve beer of two varieties, light or dark, and they give you two small glasses instead of one. The waiters are cool there and the history of the place is all over the walls. We had a couple drinks and chatted for a bit, but then my narcolepsy started kicking in and I started yawning. I was hungry so we went to Mamoun’s around the corner for a pita. I spilled a quarter of my pita all over my pants every time I took a bite. Doobs is fascinated by the gritty ambiance of St Marks, but I just wanted to eat and leave and get away from the weird tranny sitting next to us.
We walked over and caught A trains going in opposite directions from West 4th.
Went to see She & Him and The Rosebuds at Terminal 5 on Saturday night. We stood up on the third floor near the railing and had a pretty good view. The Rosebuds were ok. She & Him were awesome. I don’t really like the album, but to see them live was much different. Zooey Deschanel has a gorgeous voice and Matt Ward was playing the guitar like he sold his soul. And the best, Becky Stark and the old timer from Lavender Diamond were backing them up. Again, I don’t listen to Lavender Diamond, but we’ve seen them open for The Decemberists, and that girl is awesome to see live. They all had good showmanship and definitely gave it their all to put on a good show.
I finally got my watched fixed. After how many months? Six? Or more? It took about 8 minutes to do at Tourneau on 57th, and it was cheap. I can tell the time by looking at my wrist now. And I can see what the date is. And I can time you while you run laps. And I see that it is almost time to leave work. Hooray.
The wife and I took Doobs out for dinner last night at Blue Moon Rocking Horse as a thank you for taking care of, and hanging out with, George while we were away last weekend. Not only that, but he had also called the cable company about our lousy internet service and set up an appointment and waited for a guy to come out yesterday and fix it. A great guy, that Doobie.
Afterward, we went back to our pad and Doobs and I played Warhawk on Playstation 3, battling it out online with other people. He and I have played a few times and we always get slaughtered. But we’re getting better. That game is so fun even win you’re losing, but it’s more fun when you’re winning.
Fun: Running up to Doobie’s team’s flag, taking it right under his nose and fleeing across the entire map with him in pursuit, trying and failing, to retrieve it before I cap it. Standing on a tower and launching rockets at Doobs, looking at his screen to see it blow him to smithereens. Neither of us smart enough to know how to plant the flag once we’ve actually got it back to our own base. Sitting in a gun turret, trying, and failing, to kill Doobs before he can run up and throw a grenade at me.
Good times.
