For the last few months I've been seeing ads on TV for something called Hulu, the ads are very odd and usually have something to do with the actors being aliens. For example..
Anyway, I was chatting with Lynz today and she mentioned watching TV on HULU.com. As it turns out Hulu is a website that allows you to watch TV and movies online for free! They actually have a pretty big selection of movies and TV shows not to mention movie trailers. I just watched the trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
If you have never seen it check it out...
---Thought of the Day
"I love this, check it out"...
In almost everything in life that's our attitude right? Whether it's food, TV show, movie, drink, sunset, ocean, etc.. the only thing in our existence that's "I like this and nobody else can have it" is a boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife.. Why is that? Wouldn't the world be a better place if that wasn't the case?
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Failblog 2
So, I started reading Fail Blog today.. As with anything I started at the beginning and I am now up to May 11, 2009.. Here are my favorites so far...
Tom Seaver to John Franco... Roles Reversed?
Tom Seaver was the best starter in the history of the Mets and as you might remember he threw the final pitch in the history of Shea Stadium.. Seaver thew out 395 first pitches for the Mets at Shea Stadium and 1 very emotional last pitch. Today the Mets officially opened up Citi-Field for a St. John's University game against Georgetown. Long time Met and St. John's alumni John Franco was on hand and threw out the first ever pitch in Citi-Field history, Franco pitched for the Mets for 14 years and in that time threw 484 last pitches but today marks the first first pitch of his long career!I knew that Franco was throwing out the first pitch for weeks but when I was reading the article and looking at the pics today it made me really think about the Seaver/Franco connection. Seaver and Franco are two of the Mets most popular players in their history, they were also two of the most successful players in Mets history, 311 wins for Seaver, and 424 saves for Franco. They both played for the Mets for over 10 years (12 for Seaver, 14 for Franco) and they both also played for the Cincinnati Reds, Seaver was traded from the Mets to the Reds in 1977, stayed there till 1982, and Franco came up with Reds in 1984 and played there till he was traded to the Mets in 1989.
Seaver's 311 wins ranks him at 18th in the history of pitchers.
Franco's 424 saves ranks him at 1st in the history of left handed pitchers. (4th all-time)
So the Mets call on the man most noted for starting games to close out the old park and the many most noted for ending games to open thew new park.. So, it seems in the business of stadiums these two legends are reversing their roles..
Introducing WPA
Works Progress Administration is:
Founding Directors:
Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket) - vocals, guitar
Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek, Fiction Family) - guitar, vocals
Luke Bulla (Jerry Douglas Band, Ricky Skaggs) - fiddle, vocals, guitar
Executive Board Members:
Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek) - fiddle, vocals
Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) - piano, organ
Greg Leisz (Joni Mitchell, Wilco, Sheryl Crow, Beck) - pedal steel
Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello and the Imposters, Randy Newman) - drums
Davey Faragher (Elvis Costello and the Imposters, Cracker) - bass
---2nd Diversion of the Day
Founding Directors:
Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket) - vocals, guitar
Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek, Fiction Family) - guitar, vocals
Luke Bulla (Jerry Douglas Band, Ricky Skaggs) - fiddle, vocals, guitar
Executive Board Members:
Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek) - fiddle, vocals
Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) - piano, organ
Greg Leisz (Joni Mitchell, Wilco, Sheryl Crow, Beck) - pedal steel
Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello and the Imposters, Randy Newman) - drums
Davey Faragher (Elvis Costello and the Imposters, Cracker) - bass
---2nd Diversion of the Day
Failblog
Jessie was just showing me some cool stuff on Fail Blog.. It's a pretty funny site, if you have not checked it out yet it's failblog.
I'm sitting here with Jessie's mom showing us loads of corsican music.. She is going to corsica for an indeterminate amount of time, she got a one-way ticket and will be there for at least a month.. Corsica is an island off the coast of Italy that is owned and operated by France.
When she first got here today we went out to 85 Main for lunch. After lunch we went over to VSC and Elizabeth was the person in front of us in line. It was pretty funny, Chris started talking to me while Elizabeth was in front of me and I wish I could have seen her face because what ever reaction she had made Chris laugh. She asked him why he was laughing and he said something like is it a crime to laugh, sometimes funny things pop into my head.. She ordered her drink and left and I thought he was going to say something but he saw that we were there with Jessie's mom so he didn't say anything other than that was weird.. Like I said, I wish I could have seen that encounter from Chris' eyes.
Anyway, I'm off for now..
---Thought of the Day
"We don't like strangers to pass through without getting to know them because strangers can become enemies but friends can never return to being stragers again." - Lion Among Men
---Diversion of the Day
I'm sitting here with Jessie's mom showing us loads of corsican music.. She is going to corsica for an indeterminate amount of time, she got a one-way ticket and will be there for at least a month.. Corsica is an island off the coast of Italy that is owned and operated by France.
When she first got here today we went out to 85 Main for lunch. After lunch we went over to VSC and Elizabeth was the person in front of us in line. It was pretty funny, Chris started talking to me while Elizabeth was in front of me and I wish I could have seen her face because what ever reaction she had made Chris laugh. She asked him why he was laughing and he said something like is it a crime to laugh, sometimes funny things pop into my head.. She ordered her drink and left and I thought he was going to say something but he saw that we were there with Jessie's mom so he didn't say anything other than that was weird.. Like I said, I wish I could have seen that encounter from Chris' eyes.
Anyway, I'm off for now..
---Thought of the Day
"We don't like strangers to pass through without getting to know them because strangers can become enemies but friends can never return to being stragers again." - Lion Among Men
---Diversion of the Day
Saturday, March 28, 2009
JoboOodyDubs
This morning Jessie wanted to show me the Shamwow infomercial. We looked it up on the TV and from there went to the slap chop. From that one we found a parody called slap nuts which was eh. From there we found a bunch of parody ones and I now give you what in our opinion was the best one.. Might Putty Dub by Jabo0odyDubs.
---Diversion of the Day
---Diversion of the Day
Friday, March 27, 2009
Seats at CitiField
So, the Mets opened Citi-Field up for people do take seat tours for season tickets. A fan went in and took a bunch of pics and posted them on Photobucket.
Anyway, this picture is pretty close to what the field will look like from our seats..
----
What else? Well, I've been doing a whole lot of hanging on the couch, all in all this surgery recovery is alot easier than the last one. My foot does not really hurt and hasn't for a few days except the time I put all my weight on it by mistake.. I think the big difference this time is that there is no staple tugging on my bandages. The other big difference is that the swelling is not going away nearly as quickly, but I will trade that for the no pain any day.
I have been driving a bit which is good because it was not until the 3rd or even 4th week I was willing to drive last time. This time it's the left foot so I can use the pedals still with my right foot, but the big difference is the pain levels.
Tuesday before dinner Lynz came over but I was feeling all feverish so I slept most of the day while she worked, we did get a few episodes of Cheers in towards the end of the day. I went to Tuesday night dinner (drove there, Jessie drove back) which was lots of fun, not sure what stole the show, it was either John's biscuits and sausage gravy or Kristen's ham, cheese and veggie dish. After dinner we went into the living room and played Balderdash which is a funner game than I thought it would be.
Wednesday Sara came over and we watched a few 4400 episodes, we are now on disc 2 of the 3rd season. For christmas my dad got me the entire 4400 box set, each episode is extended so it's been really awesome watching them over again. There were actually pretty important scenes pulled out of the original airings because of time, for example at the end of the 4th episode of season 3 they show Isabella going to meet Rilan at his office, obviously no reason was shown but that's awesome because it explains Rilan's later involvement.
Thursday I ventured out on my own and hung out in Putnam for a while which was nice to do, made me feel all quasi independent. Afterwards I watched the rest of the Monk episodes I had TiVo'ed, I am now caught up. The final season of Monk starts this summer and knowing that it's the last episode I'm really looking forward to it. I think the show is ending just in time before it gets too played out.
Speaking of played out... I watched the latest episode of Legend of the Seeker!!! If you're like me and still holding on to this stupid ass series you will have seen maybe the worst book to film/TV abortion ever made last week! If you have not seen you may not want to, especially if you have any respect for Terry and his work. The question I have to ask myself is, WHY!?! Why do I still watch this show.. I know I said in a previous post that I was going to stick it out for the rest of this season but I honestly don't know anymore... There are only two episodes left so I'm going to TiVo them but I will only be watching them if there is nothing on TV like this afternoon.
Thursday night John, Lynz and Anja came over and had dinner and played Guitar Hero World Tour. Jessie moved her bass up to hard and only failed one song, John did a great job playing drums, the first one I've seen pick it up and not fail the first few times.. Lynz played guitar and I sung for the most part. I actually jumped to the drums on two songs and did pretty well considering my left foot is in a cast and my right ankle is sore from the constant workout of carrying all my weight.
----
Back to the beginning.. I'm really looking forward to this season and Citi-Field.. I loved Shea and I will always have very fond memories of going there but I am very excited for Citi-Field, other than the naming rights and the lack of dome I think they did a great job of everything else. Check out that photobucket site and hopefully you will share my opinions. I had been getting worried about the Mets but with Maine's good start yesterday and our bullpen coming together now that Putz and K-Rod are back from the WBC. I'm still bitter about Duaner being released but you gotta move forward right? Duaner was picked up by San Diego and has pitched 4 innings so far for them allowing 1 hit. In one respect I'm glad he didn't sign in the NL East but on the other hand it would have been karma if he had and because a thorn in our side. At least we only play the Padres 6 times all year so he can't be that big of a thorn.
---Thought of the Day
"A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection." -- Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club
Anyway, this picture is pretty close to what the field will look like from our seats..
----
What else? Well, I've been doing a whole lot of hanging on the couch, all in all this surgery recovery is alot easier than the last one. My foot does not really hurt and hasn't for a few days except the time I put all my weight on it by mistake.. I think the big difference this time is that there is no staple tugging on my bandages. The other big difference is that the swelling is not going away nearly as quickly, but I will trade that for the no pain any day.
I have been driving a bit which is good because it was not until the 3rd or even 4th week I was willing to drive last time. This time it's the left foot so I can use the pedals still with my right foot, but the big difference is the pain levels.
Tuesday before dinner Lynz came over but I was feeling all feverish so I slept most of the day while she worked, we did get a few episodes of Cheers in towards the end of the day. I went to Tuesday night dinner (drove there, Jessie drove back) which was lots of fun, not sure what stole the show, it was either John's biscuits and sausage gravy or Kristen's ham, cheese and veggie dish. After dinner we went into the living room and played Balderdash which is a funner game than I thought it would be.
Wednesday Sara came over and we watched a few 4400 episodes, we are now on disc 2 of the 3rd season. For christmas my dad got me the entire 4400 box set, each episode is extended so it's been really awesome watching them over again. There were actually pretty important scenes pulled out of the original airings because of time, for example at the end of the 4th episode of season 3 they show Isabella going to meet Rilan at his office, obviously no reason was shown but that's awesome because it explains Rilan's later involvement.
Thursday I ventured out on my own and hung out in Putnam for a while which was nice to do, made me feel all quasi independent. Afterwards I watched the rest of the Monk episodes I had TiVo'ed, I am now caught up. The final season of Monk starts this summer and knowing that it's the last episode I'm really looking forward to it. I think the show is ending just in time before it gets too played out.
Speaking of played out... I watched the latest episode of Legend of the Seeker!!! If you're like me and still holding on to this stupid ass series you will have seen maybe the worst book to film/TV abortion ever made last week! If you have not seen you may not want to, especially if you have any respect for Terry and his work. The question I have to ask myself is, WHY!?! Why do I still watch this show.. I know I said in a previous post that I was going to stick it out for the rest of this season but I honestly don't know anymore... There are only two episodes left so I'm going to TiVo them but I will only be watching them if there is nothing on TV like this afternoon.
Thursday night John, Lynz and Anja came over and had dinner and played Guitar Hero World Tour. Jessie moved her bass up to hard and only failed one song, John did a great job playing drums, the first one I've seen pick it up and not fail the first few times.. Lynz played guitar and I sung for the most part. I actually jumped to the drums on two songs and did pretty well considering my left foot is in a cast and my right ankle is sore from the constant workout of carrying all my weight.
----
Back to the beginning.. I'm really looking forward to this season and Citi-Field.. I loved Shea and I will always have very fond memories of going there but I am very excited for Citi-Field, other than the naming rights and the lack of dome I think they did a great job of everything else. Check out that photobucket site and hopefully you will share my opinions. I had been getting worried about the Mets but with Maine's good start yesterday and our bullpen coming together now that Putz and K-Rod are back from the WBC. I'm still bitter about Duaner being released but you gotta move forward right? Duaner was picked up by San Diego and has pitched 4 innings so far for them allowing 1 hit. In one respect I'm glad he didn't sign in the NL East but on the other hand it would have been karma if he had and because a thorn in our side. At least we only play the Padres 6 times all year so he can't be that big of a thorn.
---Thought of the Day
"A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection." -- Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Garfunkel and Oats
These ladies are amazing!
Kate Micucci - http://www.katemicucci.com/music.html
Riki Lindhome - http://rikilindhome.com/
Gafunkel and Oats - http://garfunkelandoates.com/
---Diversion of the Day
Larry from Erika Lindhome on Vimeo.
Kate Micucci - http://www.katemicucci.com/music.html
Riki Lindhome - http://rikilindhome.com/
Gafunkel and Oats - http://garfunkelandoates.com/
---Diversion of the Day
Larry from Erika Lindhome on Vimeo.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Couch....
Laying on the couch taking pain killers and watching lots of mindless TV.. When I say mindless I really mean that.. I am now all caught up on Legend of the Seeker and it's still really crappy! As a matter of fact it might be getting worse as the show continues. There are three episodes left in season one so I am going to make myself finish the season but I will not be watching it next year if there is one. Some of the horrible things they did was gave Zedd a brother, made Geller an evil wizard trying to recreate the power of a confessor and speaking of confessors, they have an army of confessors who were all running from one quad and in that army of confessors was the real mother confessor! Oh, it's ok though because now Kahlan is the mother confessor because Kahlan and Richard killed the mother confessor after she confessed Zedd!?! As I said, I'm going to make myself finish watching the season but I'm done after that...
Right now I'm catching up on Monk, what's really cool about that is that I'm watching it in black and white. Why, you ask? It's on my old TiVo which is an old series one, the series one TiVos have a problem when you put it into standby mode it sometimes comes back in black and white. Now I can't get it back into color, I think it has more to do with the fact that I broke the connector on the back of the TiVo when I took the coax cable off. I'm planing on getting an old Series one TiVo from dad so I can swap out my hard drives and copy the rest of our old shows off in color. I'm sorta growing bored with Monk right now, I've watched a bunch of episodes over the last few days and it's amazing how similar they are to each other. Plus, it's been years since they did any advancement on the Trudy murder plot line.
....
Japan beat Korea in last night's WBC game which means that Saturday night Korea plays Venezuela and Sunday night Japan plays the USA. The winner of each of those games plays in the final on Monday night. This is the first round of the WBC that should have a double elimination, instead the first few rounds did. They way the first few rounds worked was:
Day 1
Team A v. Team B
Team C v. Team D
Lets say A and C win.
Now Day 2
Team B plays Team D
Team A plays Team C
Lets say B and A wins (that sends Team D home because they lost twice)
Now Day 3
Team B plays Team C
Lets say team B wins (that sends Team C home because they lost twice)
Now Day 4
Team A plays Team B and they both continue to next round regardless of who wins!
As of right now there is no way Japan and USA can play in the final game. Because they play each other in the first game and one of them will go home. I would think in the finals you would want the double elimination.
....
So, as you may or may not know we got a new HD Tivo over last weekend and had the cable guy install cable cards in it on Monday. When I booked the appointment they told me the cable company did not use Multicards and that they would have to give me two Single Cards. Well, the Tivo worked well for a day or two before it started skipping and losing picture. The cable guy came out today to troubleshoot and brought a Multicard. He pulled the S cards out and put the M in and now everything seems to be working again plus we save $3.00 a month because now we are only paying for one card. I really hope this is not an ongoing problem, the cable guys seems to think that it will be an ongoing problem because of the cable cards.
....
I updated the relationship chart finally... Here is the new version...
Right now I'm catching up on Monk, what's really cool about that is that I'm watching it in black and white. Why, you ask? It's on my old TiVo which is an old series one, the series one TiVos have a problem when you put it into standby mode it sometimes comes back in black and white. Now I can't get it back into color, I think it has more to do with the fact that I broke the connector on the back of the TiVo when I took the coax cable off. I'm planing on getting an old Series one TiVo from dad so I can swap out my hard drives and copy the rest of our old shows off in color. I'm sorta growing bored with Monk right now, I've watched a bunch of episodes over the last few days and it's amazing how similar they are to each other. Plus, it's been years since they did any advancement on the Trudy murder plot line.
....
Japan beat Korea in last night's WBC game which means that Saturday night Korea plays Venezuela and Sunday night Japan plays the USA. The winner of each of those games plays in the final on Monday night. This is the first round of the WBC that should have a double elimination, instead the first few rounds did. They way the first few rounds worked was:
Day 1
Team A v. Team B
Team C v. Team D
Lets say A and C win.
Now Day 2
Team B plays Team D
Team A plays Team C
Lets say B and A wins (that sends Team D home because they lost twice)
Now Day 3
Team B plays Team C
Lets say team B wins (that sends Team C home because they lost twice)
Now Day 4
Team A plays Team B and they both continue to next round regardless of who wins!
As of right now there is no way Japan and USA can play in the final game. Because they play each other in the first game and one of them will go home. I would think in the finals you would want the double elimination.
....
So, as you may or may not know we got a new HD Tivo over last weekend and had the cable guy install cable cards in it on Monday. When I booked the appointment they told me the cable company did not use Multicards and that they would have to give me two Single Cards. Well, the Tivo worked well for a day or two before it started skipping and losing picture. The cable guy came out today to troubleshoot and brought a Multicard. He pulled the S cards out and put the M in and now everything seems to be working again plus we save $3.00 a month because now we are only paying for one card. I really hope this is not an ongoing problem, the cable guys seems to think that it will be an ongoing problem because of the cable cards.
....
I updated the relationship chart finally... Here is the new version...
Monday, March 16, 2009
All day blog..
So, it's been a while since my last post. I am sitting at the house waiting for the cable guy to show up with my cable cards. We got a new HDTivo and it needs cable cards in order to record anything. The cable company gave me a 8am-5pm appointment for today so I'm stuck hanging at the house.
I am watching Legend of the Seeker to kill time. The first episode I watched today was actually really good and gave me hope that Terry's long nasty post made an impact. However the 2nd episode I'm watching now is ridiculous.
The cable guy got here and my new HDTivo is now working and running with the HD channels. I'm about to take a shower but figured I would type some more first..
Lots of stuff happened since last I wrote..
Lynz came over on Friday for some Cheers and Guitar Hero. Saturday me, Jessie and Hoyle went out with Kevin and a girl he met who lives in Tennessee. We went out to a Japanese restaurant in Providence and then to a pub near by for a few drinks. The pub we went into had a ton of different beers including Rogue ale. Sunday me and Jessie went to breakfast with Lynz, John, Anja and Lynz's cousin Dani and then I went with to the new pizza place with Matt and Sile for Matt's birthday dinner. I have been to that pizza place a few times now and I really do love their pizza. Monday I went up to see Kaitlyn who has been nursing a concussion, I didn't stay too long but had a good dinner at the People's Pint before heading back home. Tuesday was our normal dinner, John and Lynz brought Em over.. It was nice meeting her and we all had a great time. I made a very un-spicy jambalaya which was good, I don't remember what everyone else made because it's been a week.. I guess that's just one of the reasons for me to blog more regularly. Randy came over on Wednesday and we hung out with Ryan and watched the WBC and had the aforementioned pizza. Lynz was supposed to come over on Thursday but John and Anja were sick so Randy and I hung out with Ryan again and went to JD Coopers and played pool. Friday/Saturday/Sunday was Laire, I went down with the intention of playing my barbarian character but when I woke up on Saturday morning I ended up switching to play Daimone. Got home Sunday and setup our new HD Tivo before going and getting Jessie who ran out of gas on 395..
Well, that quick recap brings us up to today.. I was supposed to go see Kaitlyn today but she is still nursing her concussion and is not up for having company, she did at least go to work for a few hours today so it's getting better.
----
Onto other things... ?
I was going to write up some stuff about the WBC, the Mets, American Idol, my new TiVo features and my upcoming surgery but I seem to have ran out of time.. Jessie will be home soon and we going to spend a nice night together since it will be the last one we have together before my surgery..
---Diversion of the Day
I am watching Legend of the Seeker to kill time. The first episode I watched today was actually really good and gave me hope that Terry's long nasty post made an impact. However the 2nd episode I'm watching now is ridiculous.
The cable guy got here and my new HDTivo is now working and running with the HD channels. I'm about to take a shower but figured I would type some more first..
Lots of stuff happened since last I wrote..
Lynz came over on Friday for some Cheers and Guitar Hero. Saturday me, Jessie and Hoyle went out with Kevin and a girl he met who lives in Tennessee. We went out to a Japanese restaurant in Providence and then to a pub near by for a few drinks. The pub we went into had a ton of different beers including Rogue ale. Sunday me and Jessie went to breakfast with Lynz, John, Anja and Lynz's cousin Dani and then I went with to the new pizza place with Matt and Sile for Matt's birthday dinner. I have been to that pizza place a few times now and I really do love their pizza. Monday I went up to see Kaitlyn who has been nursing a concussion, I didn't stay too long but had a good dinner at the People's Pint before heading back home. Tuesday was our normal dinner, John and Lynz brought Em over.. It was nice meeting her and we all had a great time. I made a very un-spicy jambalaya which was good, I don't remember what everyone else made because it's been a week.. I guess that's just one of the reasons for me to blog more regularly. Randy came over on Wednesday and we hung out with Ryan and watched the WBC and had the aforementioned pizza. Lynz was supposed to come over on Thursday but John and Anja were sick so Randy and I hung out with Ryan again and went to JD Coopers and played pool. Friday/Saturday/Sunday was Laire, I went down with the intention of playing my barbarian character but when I woke up on Saturday morning I ended up switching to play Daimone. Got home Sunday and setup our new HD Tivo before going and getting Jessie who ran out of gas on 395..
Well, that quick recap brings us up to today.. I was supposed to go see Kaitlyn today but she is still nursing her concussion and is not up for having company, she did at least go to work for a few hours today so it's getting better.
----
Onto other things... ?
I was going to write up some stuff about the WBC, the Mets, American Idol, my new TiVo features and my upcoming surgery but I seem to have ran out of time.. Jessie will be home soon and we going to spend a nice night together since it will be the last one we have together before my surgery..
---Diversion of the Day
Thursday, March 5, 2009
New Prices....
Mets finally made official prices for Citi-Field. They lowered the prices of most of the lower level seats... The Promenade prices either went up or didn't change. Anyone who purchased season tickets and paid a higher price are getting a refund to the new price, anyone who purchased season tickets and paid a lower price are not going to be affected!
Prices are:
Field Level -
Ebbet's Club (Behind home plate first few rows) - $280
Delta Club (Behind home plate behind the Ebbet's Club) - $245
Metropolitan Box Silver (Infield Box Seats first few rows) - $245
Metropolitan Box (Infield Box Seats behind MBS) - $210
Field Box (Box seats between infield and outfield) - $175
Baseline Box (Outfield Box seats but still in Foul territory) - $105
Field Level Reserved (Fair territory seats) - $70
Bridge Terrace (Seats in right center field overlooking bullpens) - $63
Big Apple Reserved (center field bleachers) - $49
Excelsior Level - (Renamed Caesar's Club Level)
Caesar's Club Platinum (First few rows) - $245
Caesar's Club Gold (Behind CGP behind home plate) - $210
Caesar's Club Silver (Behind CGP on infield) - $175
Caesar's Club Bronze (Behind CGP between infield and outfield) - $161
Caesar's Club (Behind CGP in outfield) - $105
Pepsi Porch Gold (Right field seats that hang over field, first few rows) - $84
Pepsi Porch (Behind PPG) - $56
Left Field landing Gold (left field seats by the restaurant, first few rows) - $84
Left Field Landing (Behind LFLG) - $56
Promenade Level -
Promenade Club Gold (Infield Box first few rows) - $105
Promenade Club (Behind PCG) - $84
Promenade Box (Outfield Boxes) - $49
Promenade Reserved Infield (Behind PC) - $35
Promenade Reserved (Behind PB) - $27
The Yankees have not released their everyday pricing, they are still only talking about season ticket plans but they lowered their prices even more than the Mets did but are still more expensive than the Mets.
Prices are:
Field Level -
Ebbet's Club (Behind home plate first few rows) - $280
Delta Club (Behind home plate behind the Ebbet's Club) - $245
Metropolitan Box Silver (Infield Box Seats first few rows) - $245
Metropolitan Box (Infield Box Seats behind MBS) - $210
Field Box (Box seats between infield and outfield) - $175
Baseline Box (Outfield Box seats but still in Foul territory) - $105
Field Level Reserved (Fair territory seats) - $70
Bridge Terrace (Seats in right center field overlooking bullpens) - $63
Big Apple Reserved (center field bleachers) - $49
Excelsior Level - (Renamed Caesar's Club Level)
Caesar's Club Platinum (First few rows) - $245
Caesar's Club Gold (Behind CGP behind home plate) - $210
Caesar's Club Silver (Behind CGP on infield) - $175
Caesar's Club Bronze (Behind CGP between infield and outfield) - $161
Caesar's Club (Behind CGP in outfield) - $105
Pepsi Porch Gold (Right field seats that hang over field, first few rows) - $84
Pepsi Porch (Behind PPG) - $56
Left Field landing Gold (left field seats by the restaurant, first few rows) - $84
Left Field Landing (Behind LFLG) - $56
Promenade Level -
Promenade Club Gold (Infield Box first few rows) - $105
Promenade Club (Behind PCG) - $84
Promenade Box (Outfield Boxes) - $49
Promenade Reserved Infield (Behind PC) - $35
Promenade Reserved (Behind PB) - $27
The Yankees have not released their everyday pricing, they are still only talking about season ticket plans but they lowered their prices even more than the Mets did but are still more expensive than the Mets.
Driving in NJ?
This was just posted on the Laire message boards...
I can't friggin' believe they are telling cops they have to pull someone over every 10-20 minutes! That's going to lead to alot of just pulling people over for no reason. I see the court systems being over loaded with people fighting tickets from this.
----
WBC news - Japan shut out China 4-0 in game 1 this morning.
David Wright and Jimmy Rollins are both on the USA team. Derek Jeter is poking fun at the Mets/Phillies rivalry and Wright and Rollins are playing along nicely... Here is a quote from an article on MLB.com...
It's odd to see pics of Wright wearing #4.. Davey Johnson (the manager) is wearing #5 so Wright had to pick another number when he arrived..
----
Yesterday my drum kit arrived for Guitar Hero World Tour! I played a few songs with Jessie last night and they are pretty hard. I played a few songs on easy which might actually be worse than medium because easy has so few notes it does not feel natural. It's like you're waiting to hit a note instead of playing the song. Jessie also played a few songs and I played guitar on hard during her songs. I am to the point now where medium on guitar is too easy but I've never been able to get hard because of that stupid orange button, not good at sliding my hand to hit that key. I did alright yesterday on hard except on one song which I failed twice before we moved to another song. Need more practice with that stupid key.
---Diversion of the Day
N J State Police Initiative
STATE POLICE - NJ TICKETING
Starting today, New Jersey will launch a 30-day speeding ticket frenzy. The state estimates that 9 million dollars will be generated in speeding tickets. One million dollars will go to pay state troopers over-time.
There will be 50 state troopers on duty at all times patrolling the 9 main intersections and highways as follows:
I-295 North and South,
I-95 Jersey Turnpike
North and South
I-80 East and West
I-287 North and South
I-78 East and West
I-195 East and West
I-280 East and West
Route 130 - North and South
Garden State Parkway - North and South
5 MPH above the limit can justify a ticket and every state trooper is supposed to pull a car over and write a ticket every 10 to 20 minutes.
They have issued 30 brand new unmarked Crown Victoria cruisers and are bringing in all of their part-timers on full time. If you work in NJ, NY, DE or CT, you will probably be on one of these highways. So, please be on guard and drive safely!
Starting August 15, the price of a violation to show your driver's license, registration or insurance card at the time you are stopped, increased from $44.00 to $173.00. (Keep these documents in your car). And the fine for not having all three documents is $519.00!
The fine for hand-held cell phone use while driving will be going up to $180.00.
I can't friggin' believe they are telling cops they have to pull someone over every 10-20 minutes! That's going to lead to alot of just pulling people over for no reason. I see the court systems being over loaded with people fighting tickets from this.
----
WBC news - Japan shut out China 4-0 in game 1 this morning.
David Wright and Jimmy Rollins are both on the USA team. Derek Jeter is poking fun at the Mets/Phillies rivalry and Wright and Rollins are playing along nicely... Here is a quote from an article on MLB.com...
When the members of Team USA converged this week to work out for the World Baseball Classic, Jeter found his locker sandwiched between those of the Phillies' Jimmy Rollins and the Mets' David Wright.
"If they want to get at each other, they've got to come through me," Jeter said on Tuesday. "I'm a little barrier, I guess."
Jeter likely won't need to break up any verbal fights in his role as captain of the United States club. After Team USA's 6-5 victory over the Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field, Wright said he and Rollins had playfully agreed to bury their ongoing NL East rivalry.
"We signed the three-week treaty, I guess," Wright said. "We promised not to talk about, 'Who's the team to beat?' or anything like that. I've got so much respect for not only Jimmy, but the Phillies in general. You don't necessarily have to go out there and like a team, but you respect what they accomplish.
"Especially when you put this uniform on, it's very small in the grand scheme of things. Once these three weeks are up, I'm sure it will be back to the same old rivalry."
It's odd to see pics of Wright wearing #4.. Davey Johnson (the manager) is wearing #5 so Wright had to pick another number when he arrived..
----
Yesterday my drum kit arrived for Guitar Hero World Tour! I played a few songs with Jessie last night and they are pretty hard. I played a few songs on easy which might actually be worse than medium because easy has so few notes it does not feel natural. It's like you're waiting to hit a note instead of playing the song. Jessie also played a few songs and I played guitar on hard during her songs. I am to the point now where medium on guitar is too easy but I've never been able to get hard because of that stupid orange button, not good at sliding my hand to hit that key. I did alright yesterday on hard except on one song which I failed twice before we moved to another song. Need more practice with that stupid key.
---Diversion of the Day
American Idol Season 8 - Top 12
So, I'm pretty much disgusted with American Idol voters this year. The top 36 ran in three sets of 12 as you may or may not know, of each set of 12 they selected the top guy, top girl and third top person. Everyone else left so they dropped 9 people per week. Last night they brought back the 27 dropped people and had the judges pick 8 people to sing in a wildcard show tonight for the final 3 spots in the top 12. The problem is that most of the people with personality were sent home yesterday.
Anyway, before I get into the top 12 and Wild Cards... Here are this weeks reviews and who made it through...
Guys:
Scott MacIntyre
Jorge Nunez
Nathaniel Marshall
Von Smith
Alex Wagner-Trugman
Ju’not Joyner
Girls:
Taylor Vaifanua
Kristen McNamara
Lil Rounds
Felicia Barton
Kendall Beard
Arianna Afsar
Made it to top 12
Lil Rounds
Jorge Nunez
Scott MacIntyre
-There were so many great girls in week 3 to have Jorge Nunez go instead of another of the girls is really shitty.
Top 12 so far:
Alexis Grace - Middle of the road singer from week 1
Michael Sarver - Worst sounding guy from week 1
Danny Gokey - Best guy from week 1
Adam Lambert - Best guy from week 2
Allison Iraheta - 2nd Best girl from week 2
Kris Allen - 3rd Best guy from week 2
Lil Rounds - 3rd Best girl from week 3
Scott MacIntyre - Best guy from week 3
Jorge Nunez - 2nd Best guy from week 3
Wild Card choices:
Anoop Desai - 3rd Worst guy from week 1
Tatiana Del Toro - Best girl from week 1
Ricky Braddy - 3rd Best guy from Week 1
Jasmine Murray - 2nd Worst girl from Week 2
Jesse Langseth - Worst girl from week 2
Matt Giraud - Worst guy from week 2
Von Smith - 3rd Worst guy from week 3
Megan Corkrey - Best girl from week 2
The only two wild cards who have any right being in that group are Tatiana and Megan. I'm honestly shocked that they didn't select Nick Mitchell or some of the other amazing girls from week 3. As of right now I'm very frustrated at the top 12 and this maybe the year I stop watching depending on how the early rounds go.
Anyway, before I get into the top 12 and Wild Cards... Here are this weeks reviews and who made it through...
Guys:
Scott MacIntyre
Jorge Nunez
Nathaniel Marshall
Von Smith
Alex Wagner-Trugman
Ju’not Joyner
Girls:
Taylor Vaifanua
Kristen McNamara
Lil Rounds
Felicia Barton
Kendall Beard
Arianna Afsar
Made it to top 12
Lil Rounds
Jorge Nunez
Scott MacIntyre
-There were so many great girls in week 3 to have Jorge Nunez go instead of another of the girls is really shitty.
Top 12 so far:
Alexis Grace - Middle of the road singer from week 1
Michael Sarver - Worst sounding guy from week 1
Danny Gokey - Best guy from week 1
Adam Lambert - Best guy from week 2
Allison Iraheta - 2nd Best girl from week 2
Kris Allen - 3rd Best guy from week 2
Lil Rounds - 3rd Best girl from week 3
Scott MacIntyre - Best guy from week 3
Jorge Nunez - 2nd Best guy from week 3
Wild Card choices:
Anoop Desai - 3rd Worst guy from week 1
Tatiana Del Toro - Best girl from week 1
Ricky Braddy - 3rd Best guy from Week 1
Jasmine Murray - 2nd Worst girl from Week 2
Jesse Langseth - Worst girl from week 2
Matt Giraud - Worst guy from week 2
Von Smith - 3rd Worst guy from week 3
Megan Corkrey - Best girl from week 2
The only two wild cards who have any right being in that group are Tatiana and Megan. I'm honestly shocked that they didn't select Nick Mitchell or some of the other amazing girls from week 3. As of right now I'm very frustrated at the top 12 and this maybe the year I stop watching depending on how the early rounds go.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Something to sing about...
I have been very lax on blogging lately.. I feel like I'm blogging for the sake of blogging and not to impart any cool and exciting news...
I guess I have writer's block? It's not like I don't have anything to say, I am just being very blah when I think about actually writing anything. Perhaps if I just keep writing an endless stream of nothing something real will show up...
So, the big news is that I got my car back yesterday! They put the 84,000 mile engine in and did a used car certification and said everything checks out and if my car was for sale they would have confidence selling it as a certified used car. Good to be driving my car again although it did take re-reading the stereo book to get my iPod working again.. I have an iPod cable that connects to the CD Changer control, there is a setting in the stereo to tell it whether or not you have a CD Changer connected or a 3rd Party device.
....
Let's see, last I blogged was watching American Idol.. Friday night me and Jessie went with Joe and Renae to see Toad the Wet Sprocket, I met a cool guy before the show who was there alone. He had never seen Toad and could not get anyone to go with him so he decided to go alone because he didn't want to miss the opportunity to see them. He made the right choice, the show was great. The opening band, Adam Ezra, was very good as well. They had two drummers, one played Randy's normal drum kit and the other one played a stand up drum kit, bongos and other various drums. It was a really good sound to have that many drums, they also had an accordion/piano player a guitarist and a bass player. We purchased their CD and it's good, but nothing special. It sounds too polished and the instrumentation is turned down so you can better hear the vocals, I think if they remaster the CD to make the music stand out more it would be much better. They are headlining a show in Boston and I would like to go see them in a full show instead of just a short opening show.
Toad was awesome and the redeemed the crappy show we saw at the Cape Cod Melody Tent. Everyone seemed to be getting along and having fun. One odd thing for me was they came out with a set list and stuck to it, usually Toad (or at least Glen) does not use a set list. Glen did very little talking between songs, one of the times we saw Toad (I think the reunion show in NYC) Glen did a bunch of talking and the other band members were cutting him off because they just wanted to play so him not talking was probably a way to keep the peace between the band. Todd only sung two songs (Inside and Crazy Life) out of the 20 or so they played. I was very happy to hear some lesser played songs like Little Man, Big Man but was sad that they played Know Me without Spirit... I was very excited when I saw Know Me on the set list because I have never heard them do Spirit in person but then they didn't play it.. All in all though it was a great concert and a great time hanging out with everyone.
If you have not checked my youtube or flickr recently I have uploaded a bunch of pics and videos, one video from Ryan Adams and a few from Toad and Adam Ezra.
....
Saturday and Sunday morning were very surreal.. Amber was supposed to come down with me to Brad's house for a board game birthday party but she ended up not being able to make it. I took Jessie's car and headed down. On the way down I called Amy to let her know that my NC trip was cancelled, as it turns out she was in NY at her mom's house! I drove over there and hung out for a few hours before going to Brad's house. It was very odd and very cool to see her again after all these years. We spent hours comparing old memories and having her sister fill in some of the blanks. Her sister recently had a baby and it's so odd to see her as an "adult" since she was always Amy's little sister. I've found that when you see people from your past one of two things happens, either you immediately click as if no time has past or you end up doing that awkward thing where you pretend to be all nice and happy to see the person and as soon as they leave hope you didn't come off as rude. This was certainly one of the first, I wish she lived closer, I feel if she did we would end up being really great friends again. I guess that's what the telephone and internet are for, she is going to make a facebook page so that should make keeping in contact a bit easier.
I left Amy wishing I had more time with her but I didn't want to short change my time at Brad's house either. I had fun playing a new board game called Agricola with Randy, Christian, Mara and Brad's friend Vin. I apparently mis-read the scoring rules and ended up losing because I thought it said +1 per un-used land square, but it was -1 per un-used land square... After Agricola I played Blockus with Randy, Christian and Vin till we went to bed.
Woke up early on Sunday and went to Joe Borst's house for breakfast. It was nice seeing how grown up his kids got, except Amanda who was sleeping the whole time I was over. I also got to meet his new girlfriend and see his new house which is really nice. He has a great room which has windows covering three walls and goes out onto a really big deck. The kitchen has places for windows facing out into the great room, Joe has the windows out so he can talk into the great room and be part of the family while cooking.
....
Sunday night Lynz, Sara and I went to JD Coopers to play pool and eat some dinner. We played five games of pool with Sara and Lynz teaming up against me, I won 3 of the 5 games for the overall win.
So, on a health related note... Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings I coughed up blood.. Monday I went to the doctors and found out I had a pneumonia so now I'm on anti-biotics and had to cancel my dinner with Kaitlyn on Monday..
Yesterday was dinner at Sara's house.. Sara made a raw apple pie, Lynz made a pork roast, I made a buffalo/rice dish, Kristen made raw alfredo sauce with pasta and Joe brought a salad. As always the food was great and I was finally well enough to enjoy everyone's company. I ended up playing a few rounds of Boggle with Joe, Jessie, Kristen and Sara.
....
Yay for getting everything back current...
---Diversion of the Day
http://xkcd.com/548/
I guess I have writer's block? It's not like I don't have anything to say, I am just being very blah when I think about actually writing anything. Perhaps if I just keep writing an endless stream of nothing something real will show up...
So, the big news is that I got my car back yesterday! They put the 84,000 mile engine in and did a used car certification and said everything checks out and if my car was for sale they would have confidence selling it as a certified used car. Good to be driving my car again although it did take re-reading the stereo book to get my iPod working again.. I have an iPod cable that connects to the CD Changer control, there is a setting in the stereo to tell it whether or not you have a CD Changer connected or a 3rd Party device.
....
Let's see, last I blogged was watching American Idol.. Friday night me and Jessie went with Joe and Renae to see Toad the Wet Sprocket, I met a cool guy before the show who was there alone. He had never seen Toad and could not get anyone to go with him so he decided to go alone because he didn't want to miss the opportunity to see them. He made the right choice, the show was great. The opening band, Adam Ezra, was very good as well. They had two drummers, one played Randy's normal drum kit and the other one played a stand up drum kit, bongos and other various drums. It was a really good sound to have that many drums, they also had an accordion/piano player a guitarist and a bass player. We purchased their CD and it's good, but nothing special. It sounds too polished and the instrumentation is turned down so you can better hear the vocals, I think if they remaster the CD to make the music stand out more it would be much better. They are headlining a show in Boston and I would like to go see them in a full show instead of just a short opening show.
Toad was awesome and the redeemed the crappy show we saw at the Cape Cod Melody Tent. Everyone seemed to be getting along and having fun. One odd thing for me was they came out with a set list and stuck to it, usually Toad (or at least Glen) does not use a set list. Glen did very little talking between songs, one of the times we saw Toad (I think the reunion show in NYC) Glen did a bunch of talking and the other band members were cutting him off because they just wanted to play so him not talking was probably a way to keep the peace between the band. Todd only sung two songs (Inside and Crazy Life) out of the 20 or so they played. I was very happy to hear some lesser played songs like Little Man, Big Man but was sad that they played Know Me without Spirit... I was very excited when I saw Know Me on the set list because I have never heard them do Spirit in person but then they didn't play it.. All in all though it was a great concert and a great time hanging out with everyone.
If you have not checked my youtube or flickr recently I have uploaded a bunch of pics and videos, one video from Ryan Adams and a few from Toad and Adam Ezra.
....
Saturday and Sunday morning were very surreal.. Amber was supposed to come down with me to Brad's house for a board game birthday party but she ended up not being able to make it. I took Jessie's car and headed down. On the way down I called Amy to let her know that my NC trip was cancelled, as it turns out she was in NY at her mom's house! I drove over there and hung out for a few hours before going to Brad's house. It was very odd and very cool to see her again after all these years. We spent hours comparing old memories and having her sister fill in some of the blanks. Her sister recently had a baby and it's so odd to see her as an "adult" since she was always Amy's little sister. I've found that when you see people from your past one of two things happens, either you immediately click as if no time has past or you end up doing that awkward thing where you pretend to be all nice and happy to see the person and as soon as they leave hope you didn't come off as rude. This was certainly one of the first, I wish she lived closer, I feel if she did we would end up being really great friends again. I guess that's what the telephone and internet are for, she is going to make a facebook page so that should make keeping in contact a bit easier.
I left Amy wishing I had more time with her but I didn't want to short change my time at Brad's house either. I had fun playing a new board game called Agricola with Randy, Christian, Mara and Brad's friend Vin. I apparently mis-read the scoring rules and ended up losing because I thought it said +1 per un-used land square, but it was -1 per un-used land square... After Agricola I played Blockus with Randy, Christian and Vin till we went to bed.
Woke up early on Sunday and went to Joe Borst's house for breakfast. It was nice seeing how grown up his kids got, except Amanda who was sleeping the whole time I was over. I also got to meet his new girlfriend and see his new house which is really nice. He has a great room which has windows covering three walls and goes out onto a really big deck. The kitchen has places for windows facing out into the great room, Joe has the windows out so he can talk into the great room and be part of the family while cooking.
....
Sunday night Lynz, Sara and I went to JD Coopers to play pool and eat some dinner. We played five games of pool with Sara and Lynz teaming up against me, I won 3 of the 5 games for the overall win.
So, on a health related note... Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings I coughed up blood.. Monday I went to the doctors and found out I had a pneumonia so now I'm on anti-biotics and had to cancel my dinner with Kaitlyn on Monday..
Yesterday was dinner at Sara's house.. Sara made a raw apple pie, Lynz made a pork roast, I made a buffalo/rice dish, Kristen made raw alfredo sauce with pasta and Joe brought a salad. As always the food was great and I was finally well enough to enjoy everyone's company. I ended up playing a few rounds of Boggle with Joe, Jessie, Kristen and Sara.
....
Yay for getting everything back current...
---Diversion of the Day
http://xkcd.com/548/
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
American Idol Season 8 Week 2
My ranking for Week 2:
Ladies
Megan Corkrey
Allison Iraheta
Mishavonna Henson
Jeanine Vailes
Jasmine Murray
Jesse Langseth
Guys
Adam Lambert
Nick Mitchell / Normal Gentle
Kris Allen
Matt Breitzke
Kai Kalama
Matt Giraud
I would hope Adam Lambert and Megan Corkery will be the top vote getters. I would love to see Nick as the third vote getter.
Going to the phones.. Gotta vote for Nick.. :D
Ladies
Megan Corkrey
Allison Iraheta
Mishavonna Henson
Jeanine Vailes
Jasmine Murray
Jesse Langseth
Guys
Adam Lambert
Nick Mitchell / Normal Gentle
Kris Allen
Matt Breitzke
Kai Kalama
Matt Giraud
I would hope Adam Lambert and Megan Corkery will be the top vote getters. I would love to see Nick as the third vote getter.
Going to the phones.. Gotta vote for Nick.. :D
Car Troubles
I apologize for the lack of detail in this blog.. I've been pretty sick since sitting in my car in the cold for hours but I wanted to post something since lots has happened..
Saturday night I went to see Ryan Adams and the Cardinals with Kaitlyn. The show was very good, and I had a great night until the ride home.. My car died on the way home and we were stranded on the side of the road for hours.. I called AAA around 1:30am and the didn't show up till after 4:00am!! Jessie came and picked us up and we headed home. Even with the death of Sonic I had a very good night. I posted some really good pics from the concert on flickr and one video on youtube.
Sunday I met up with Holly at Mohegan Sun, we ate lunch and had fun in the arcade for a few hours..
I stopped by Patrick Subaru on Monday before my doctors appointment and found out my engine had died and needed to be replaced... I spent the rest of Monday and most of Tuesday deciding what to do about my car.. In the end I decided to replace the engine and hope for the best.
Yesterday at dinner I ate a bit and slept a lot..
American Idol Week 2 is on tonight. I will probably post another blog later tonight with my picks for this round.
----
My dad put up an online database of his movies that he has for sale. Here is the link.. http://www.invelos.com/dvdcollection.aspx/GomezAddams
If you want any movies they are $2 per movie, if the movie is a set then it's $2 per disc in the set. Email me if you want to buy any...
---Diversion of the Day
http://www.redmeat.com/redmeat/2009-02-17/index.html
Saturday night I went to see Ryan Adams and the Cardinals with Kaitlyn. The show was very good, and I had a great night until the ride home.. My car died on the way home and we were stranded on the side of the road for hours.. I called AAA around 1:30am and the didn't show up till after 4:00am!! Jessie came and picked us up and we headed home. Even with the death of Sonic I had a very good night. I posted some really good pics from the concert on flickr and one video on youtube.
Sunday I met up with Holly at Mohegan Sun, we ate lunch and had fun in the arcade for a few hours..
I stopped by Patrick Subaru on Monday before my doctors appointment and found out my engine had died and needed to be replaced... I spent the rest of Monday and most of Tuesday deciding what to do about my car.. In the end I decided to replace the engine and hope for the best.
Yesterday at dinner I ate a bit and slept a lot..
American Idol Week 2 is on tonight. I will probably post another blog later tonight with my picks for this round.
----
My dad put up an online database of his movies that he has for sale. Here is the link.. http://www.invelos.com/dvdcollection.aspx/GomezAddams
If you want any movies they are $2 per movie, if the movie is a set then it's $2 per disc in the set. Email me if you want to buy any...
---Diversion of the Day
http://www.redmeat.com/redmeat/2009-02-17/index.html
Saturday, February 21, 2009
1985
I am sitting on the couch watching Tom Seaver's 300 win on the new MLB Network. This game was in 1985 when Seaver played on the Sox, when I say the Sox I mean the White Sox. Back in 1985 they were trying to redifine their team so they dropped "white" off their name and uniforms and were just the Sox. They wore a pretty bad uniform that year, I can't say it was the worst uniform, but it was pretty bad. It's pretty cool watching this because they are giving alot of historical side notes, during commercial breaks they give commentary on the game from today's perspective. One thing I found very interesting was the Dwight Gooden pitched his first game in a Mets uniform that same day which back then would not seem significant but looking back at it in that way is.
Anyway, this is not meant to be a blog about me watching an old baseball game... so...
....
Thursday and Friday were all about trying new restaurants. Wednesday night me and Jessie had decided we would eat at the Thai restaurant in Putnam and on the way would pick up a menu to the new pizza place (Palmieri's). We went in and grabbed a menu and while there the guy behind the counter gave us each a very small piece of the pizza to try. After eating it both of us were upset that we had already called in the Thai order.
-small tangent--> The announcers in 1985 were speculating on the future of Tom Seaver, one of them said that he thought Tom had a good head for managing, the other said that Tom Seaver belongs in the broadcasting booth. They discussed it for a few minutes and both agreed that they would love to see Tom in the broadcast booth someday. If you don't already know.. Tom Seaver is one of the Mets announcers on SNY.
Back to our regularly scheduled blog.. Thursday night I asked Jessie out for a pizza date at Palmieri's. They have a BYO policy so we went down to Putnam Liquors and got a Malbec Cabernet blend by a company called Paladin to drink with our pizza which ended up being a really good wine. We split a pizza and it was OMG good! I don't usually rave about Pizza places, especially ones outside of NY. Pyzzz is good brick oven pizza, Someplace Special has good greek pizza but nobody in the New England area has ever had what I would consider good "New York" pizza. It's actually always been kind of a joke when you see places that boast "New York style pizza" or "Brooklyn style pizza", usually you end up leaving the place wondering if they've ever tried pizza in NY. Palmieri's does have the dreaded "New York style pizza" sign on the door but for them it's deserved. Not only do they have New York style pizza they have amazing New York pizza! I will be going back there again and again..
After dinner we snuggled on the couch and watched a few episodes of Scrubs from a few weeks ago. Kate Micucci was a guest star in the 2nd episode we watched playing a possible love interest for Ted. They did an amazingly cute song called "Screw You", which is my diversion of the day. I looked Kate up on Myspace and she is as super cute as her character and her music is really fun. "Screw You" is one of her songs, another of my favorites of hers is "Dear Deer" which I will post as a 2nd diversion for today. I am giving you two because I had not blogged nearly enough lately.
Before dinner on Thursday I went back to the tattoo place and I showed Dave what I liked about each drawing and gave him some thoughts on how I would like to see the tree drawn. I went back on Friday before dinner and got his new drawing. I am not going to say what I think here yet, I would like you to give me your opinion (don't worry, your opinions are not going to change mine but I would like to hear them).
....
Friday night Lynz came over with Anja and we went to Yamato which is a new Japanese restaurant in Dayville. I can't really talk about the cooked food but I can say they had good sushi. The miso soup was good and the salad was ok. The really odd thing about this place is that it's a "steak house" meaning you would expect cooking tables, instead they have a cooking counter in the back with two chefs. The counter is open to view (if your table has a view of it, ours didn't) but it's not the same as having the chef at your table. I don't know if they were doing any tricks while cooking because I couldn't see the cooking area. I would like to go back again and this time get some cooked food to see what it's like. I was going to get some cooked food last night but I decided to just get sashimi instead which was well cut and came with a ton of daikon.
After dinner we came back and watched a bunch of Cheers before heading to bed. I posted this and then saw a notepad document up behind the window with an quote from Samuel Mayday Malone that I wanted to post. He was talking about being out with a girl and refered to it as "a wild night of friend making." I like that phrase.. Thanks Sam... :D
--Diversions of the Day
Screw You
Dear Deer
Anyway, this is not meant to be a blog about me watching an old baseball game... so...
....
Thursday and Friday were all about trying new restaurants. Wednesday night me and Jessie had decided we would eat at the Thai restaurant in Putnam and on the way would pick up a menu to the new pizza place (Palmieri's). We went in and grabbed a menu and while there the guy behind the counter gave us each a very small piece of the pizza to try. After eating it both of us were upset that we had already called in the Thai order.
-small tangent--> The announcers in 1985 were speculating on the future of Tom Seaver, one of them said that he thought Tom had a good head for managing, the other said that Tom Seaver belongs in the broadcasting booth. They discussed it for a few minutes and both agreed that they would love to see Tom in the broadcast booth someday. If you don't already know.. Tom Seaver is one of the Mets announcers on SNY.
Back to our regularly scheduled blog.. Thursday night I asked Jessie out for a pizza date at Palmieri's. They have a BYO policy so we went down to Putnam Liquors and got a Malbec Cabernet blend by a company called Paladin to drink with our pizza which ended up being a really good wine. We split a pizza and it was OMG good! I don't usually rave about Pizza places, especially ones outside of NY. Pyzzz is good brick oven pizza, Someplace Special has good greek pizza but nobody in the New England area has ever had what I would consider good "New York" pizza. It's actually always been kind of a joke when you see places that boast "New York style pizza" or "Brooklyn style pizza", usually you end up leaving the place wondering if they've ever tried pizza in NY. Palmieri's does have the dreaded "New York style pizza" sign on the door but for them it's deserved. Not only do they have New York style pizza they have amazing New York pizza! I will be going back there again and again..
After dinner we snuggled on the couch and watched a few episodes of Scrubs from a few weeks ago. Kate Micucci was a guest star in the 2nd episode we watched playing a possible love interest for Ted. They did an amazingly cute song called "Screw You", which is my diversion of the day. I looked Kate up on Myspace and she is as super cute as her character and her music is really fun. "Screw You" is one of her songs, another of my favorites of hers is "Dear Deer" which I will post as a 2nd diversion for today. I am giving you two because I had not blogged nearly enough lately.
Before dinner on Thursday I went back to the tattoo place and I showed Dave what I liked about each drawing and gave him some thoughts on how I would like to see the tree drawn. I went back on Friday before dinner and got his new drawing. I am not going to say what I think here yet, I would like you to give me your opinion (don't worry, your opinions are not going to change mine but I would like to hear them).
....
Friday night Lynz came over with Anja and we went to Yamato which is a new Japanese restaurant in Dayville. I can't really talk about the cooked food but I can say they had good sushi. The miso soup was good and the salad was ok. The really odd thing about this place is that it's a "steak house" meaning you would expect cooking tables, instead they have a cooking counter in the back with two chefs. The counter is open to view (if your table has a view of it, ours didn't) but it's not the same as having the chef at your table. I don't know if they were doing any tricks while cooking because I couldn't see the cooking area. I would like to go back again and this time get some cooked food to see what it's like. I was going to get some cooked food last night but I decided to just get sashimi instead which was well cut and came with a ton of daikon.
After dinner we came back and watched a bunch of Cheers before heading to bed. I posted this and then saw a notepad document up behind the window with an quote from Samuel Mayday Malone that I wanted to post. He was talking about being out with a girl and refered to it as "a wild night of friend making." I like that phrase.. Thanks Sam... :D
--Diversions of the Day
Screw You
Dear Deer
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
American Idol Season 8 Week 1
Quick Recap... Last night at dinner I was told that I write blogs that are silly long and as I said then the reason the blogs are so long is because I don't blog frequently enough so the tend to get very wordy... I have not blogged since I was in the air on Friday so I have a few days to recap but I will do them in the quickest way possible...
Landed Friday night and got home real late... Woke up lazily on Saturday and got ready in time for Lynz to come over for lunch, went to the Courthouse for my regular "welcome home" meal. Normally I would do dinner there but Sara is now doing a raw diet.. Speaking of dinner, Sara and Ryan came over and we (me and Ryan) had rice pasta with sausages and Jessie's raw sauce. Jessie and Sara had zucchini instead of pasta with the sauce.
Robyn was supposed to come up for Sunday but her car was not going to let her get here. Instead I went with Jessie, Sara, and Ryan to a vegetarian restaurant for a late brunch. We got to brunch at 3pm so it was basically our only meal for the day.
Monday I met Kaitlyn for lunch at the Amherst Brewery which had some good food and good beer. I had the Heather Ale which was very tasty, but not nearly as tasty as the beer that Kaitlyn got me which was a Raspberry Barleywine Ale from Berkshire Brewing. I just looked it up on BeerAdvocate and it's apparently an alias for their Raspberry Strong Ale. Monday night Jessie went out with a guy she met on OKC and hung at the house and caught up on TV..
Tuesday night was our family dinner and all the regulars were there and one new addition in Hoyle.. I can't really say all the regulars.. Matt and Sile were not there again, they are down in NJ right not because Matty just left EMC for a new job and is training this week.. Rowan was also not there because he was off with his Renae in Canada. Speaking of Renae, her and Joe got tickets to come with us to go see Toad. Last night I made a raw dish.. I should post the recipe on the Tuesday night blog but that would require logging in there so here goes...
Corn (1 pound)
String Beans (little pile)
Wax Beans (little pile)
Apples (2 whole apples sliced into thin wedges)
Bean Sprouts (big pile)
Shitake Mushrooms (1 package)
Sesame Seeds (approx 2 tablespoons)
Pistachios (1 bag of raw - crushed)
Grapefruit Juice (2 grapefruits worth of juice)
Speaking of recipes, Sara made a raw mushroom burger patty out of Jessie's Living Cuisine book. I need to photocopy the recipe for Drew but I need to take the book from Sara first unless she wants to type it up for us.. :D
....
See, that was a quick little blog to get you all up to date... I know I missed some stuff but I wanted to keep it short... Oh, one more thing.. I had my cousin create me an Australian voip number which forwards to my cell phone. Unfortunately the number he got me has a problem on it and tech support is currently trying to fix it.
....
I am sitting here watching last nights American Idol. This year they are doing the top 24 very different. They narrowed it down to the top 36 before bringing it to the votes. They then took the top 36 and split them into 3 groups of 12. Last night the first group of 12 went and of those they are going to keep three, top girl, top boy and the next top vote getter. Now, I'm currently watching the elimination episode but here is my ranking from last nights...
Very good guys
-Danny Gokey
-Stephen Fowler
-Ricky Braddy
Good guys
-Anoop Desai
-Brent Keith
Eh guy
-Michael Sarver
Very good Girl
-Tatiana del Toro
Eh Girls
-Ann Marie Boscovich
-Alexis Grace
-Jackie Thonh
Bad Girls
-Casey Carlson
-Stevie Wright
My vote for who should stay
-Danny Gokey (top male vote getter)
-Tatiana del Toro (top female vote getter)
-Stephen Fowler (third most votes)
Who actually stayed
-Alexis Grace (had to be the third most votes)
-Michael Sarver (OMG! He was the worst guy)
-Danny Gokey
I really can't believe Tatiana didn't make it in. She was really the only girl who was even worth having in the competition from last night. I think that her changed attitude might have burned her.. In her audition and in the Hollywood weeks she was quirky and fun, in last nights episode she was all demure and serious and tried saying how that was how she really was. My guess, she watched herself on TV during the last weeks and decided she needed to change because American would think she was too off the wall to be an American Idol... /sigh
Landed Friday night and got home real late... Woke up lazily on Saturday and got ready in time for Lynz to come over for lunch, went to the Courthouse for my regular "welcome home" meal. Normally I would do dinner there but Sara is now doing a raw diet.. Speaking of dinner, Sara and Ryan came over and we (me and Ryan) had rice pasta with sausages and Jessie's raw sauce. Jessie and Sara had zucchini instead of pasta with the sauce.
Robyn was supposed to come up for Sunday but her car was not going to let her get here. Instead I went with Jessie, Sara, and Ryan to a vegetarian restaurant for a late brunch. We got to brunch at 3pm so it was basically our only meal for the day.
Monday I met Kaitlyn for lunch at the Amherst Brewery which had some good food and good beer. I had the Heather Ale which was very tasty, but not nearly as tasty as the beer that Kaitlyn got me which was a Raspberry Barleywine Ale from Berkshire Brewing. I just looked it up on BeerAdvocate and it's apparently an alias for their Raspberry Strong Ale. Monday night Jessie went out with a guy she met on OKC and hung at the house and caught up on TV..
Tuesday night was our family dinner and all the regulars were there and one new addition in Hoyle.. I can't really say all the regulars.. Matt and Sile were not there again, they are down in NJ right not because Matty just left EMC for a new job and is training this week.. Rowan was also not there because he was off with his Renae in Canada. Speaking of Renae, her and Joe got tickets to come with us to go see Toad. Last night I made a raw dish.. I should post the recipe on the Tuesday night blog but that would require logging in there so here goes...
Corn (1 pound)
String Beans (little pile)
Wax Beans (little pile)
Apples (2 whole apples sliced into thin wedges)
Bean Sprouts (big pile)
Shitake Mushrooms (1 package)
Sesame Seeds (approx 2 tablespoons)
Pistachios (1 bag of raw - crushed)
Grapefruit Juice (2 grapefruits worth of juice)
Speaking of recipes, Sara made a raw mushroom burger patty out of Jessie's Living Cuisine book. I need to photocopy the recipe for Drew but I need to take the book from Sara first unless she wants to type it up for us.. :D
....
See, that was a quick little blog to get you all up to date... I know I missed some stuff but I wanted to keep it short... Oh, one more thing.. I had my cousin create me an Australian voip number which forwards to my cell phone. Unfortunately the number he got me has a problem on it and tech support is currently trying to fix it.
....
I am sitting here watching last nights American Idol. This year they are doing the top 24 very different. They narrowed it down to the top 36 before bringing it to the votes. They then took the top 36 and split them into 3 groups of 12. Last night the first group of 12 went and of those they are going to keep three, top girl, top boy and the next top vote getter. Now, I'm currently watching the elimination episode but here is my ranking from last nights...
Very good guys
-Danny Gokey
-Stephen Fowler
-Ricky Braddy
Good guys
-Anoop Desai
-Brent Keith
Eh guy
-Michael Sarver
Very good Girl
-Tatiana del Toro
Eh Girls
-Ann Marie Boscovich
-Alexis Grace
-Jackie Thonh
Bad Girls
-Casey Carlson
-Stevie Wright
My vote for who should stay
-Danny Gokey (top male vote getter)
-Tatiana del Toro (top female vote getter)
-Stephen Fowler (third most votes)
Who actually stayed
-Alexis Grace (had to be the third most votes)
-Michael Sarver (OMG! He was the worst guy)
-Danny Gokey
I really can't believe Tatiana didn't make it in. She was really the only girl who was even worth having in the competition from last night. I think that her changed attitude might have burned her.. In her audition and in the Hollywood weeks she was quirky and fun, in last nights episode she was all demure and serious and tried saying how that was how she really was. My guess, she watched herself on TV during the last weeks and decided she needed to change because American would think she was too off the wall to be an American Idol... /sigh
Friday, February 13, 2009
While in the air back from Sydney..
Would you believe I had not been on the internet long enough to type a blog?? Well, it’s sorta true.. I was on the internet while at work but I never had a block of time that I could just sit and type till now.. When is now? On the plane from Sydney to SF..
….
Lets hop in our Delorian, fire up the flux capacitor and bring us back to Monday evening..
Class went a bit longer than I wanted on Monday so by the time I got back to the hotel is was already late. Me and Jessie decided to go upstairs to the executive room and get a drink and some appetizers while we figured out plans for the night. Plus side to the executive room is that we could both use the internet because they had free wireless upstairs and only one wired in the room. First of all, while on the subject of appetizers let me just say that in most other countries they don’t call them appetizers, they call them “entrees” and they call the main course the “main”. At first this seemed odd to me because we are so used to calling our main dish the entrée but it makes more sense to call the first course the entrée and the main course the main course because after all that is what it is… Anyway, back to the story… We ended up eating lots of cheese and bread and having a few glasses of wine while we decided what we wanted to do. If you’ve been looking at Flickr you will have noticed a bunch of pictures from the Aquarium so it’s pretty obvious where this story is going, but we found out that the Aquarium didn’t close till 10pm so we jumped on the ferry and headed over.
The Ferry ride was nice, it was raining but I stood outside at the very front of the boat taking wonderful pictures and seeing the beautiful skyline all lit up. Jessie sat inside by a window and every time the ferry would stop I would run over to her window and give her a little kiss.. It was like a drive up kissing window.. :D
The Aquarium was really cool actually, I’ve been to a bunch of them in the past but it was nice to see the different creatures they have on the southern hemisphere. One of the really cool things was they had Dugongs which are the original “mermaid”, they say that ship hands used to see them in the water and think they were seeing mermaids. I have a few pictures of them and you can clearly see they don’t look like mermaids, well maybe the tail does.. They however amazing looking creatures and they were feeding them massive amounts of lettuce which was cool to watch them eat. They had a walk above them so you could look down into the water and they had one of those glass tunnels you could walk through too so you could see them from the in the water angle. Speaking of in the in the water angle, they had a shark walk too – big deal everyone does now right, but they also had a coral reef exhibit and they had a glass walkway there too. That one was super cool because it not only had a glass ceiling and walls but a glass floor, it was very relaxing to stand there completely surrounded by fish.
We purchased a two park pass which included the Wildlife Park, when I scanned my ticket at the Aquarium it said it was an invalid ticket type for Mondays which was stupid because I had just purchased it. Ironically it didn’t scan correctly at the Wildlife Park either so I ended up giving to Ange to use at both places as long as she uses it before 30 days is up.
After the Aquarium we went to City Extra which is a 24 hour restaurant that serves decent food. I had the fish and chips snack again (see pervious blogs) and Jessie had Potato Wedges which she says were “eh”.
….
Nothing left to see on Monday so.. Onto Tuesday Marty… Tuesday was not at all what it was supposed to be.. Jessie made last minute plans to hang out with Nigel who we met at the Poly meet up on Sunday. I got out of work and went to Scruffy Murphy’s which is a really big Irish pub in Sydney. Someone from Ireland should come there and show them how to be an “Irish Pub”, the only thing that made them an “Irish Pub” was the name and the Guinness. They had techno dance music on and Cricket on the TV, they had slot machines in the back and served regular pub fare for food. I’ve felt more in Ireland at “Irish Pubs” in America. I had a Guinness and then went shopping to kill more time till Ange got out of work. Me and Ange went to a Korean restaurant and had some really good food, she played me some Australian music by her friend but I forgot to get a copy of it. Maybe she can rip it and mail me a MP3 CD of them and George (who she played for us on Thursday). The house Ange lives in does not have heat which is an odd concept for us Americans, it also has really, really high doorknobs. The doorknobs are at face level which is really odd when you’re half asleep looking to open a door.. A few of the doors and windows have this odd creature on the stained glass, I posted (or will post) a pic of it on my flickr site, check it out and let me know what you think it looks like.. :D
….
Wednesday.. Ange dropped me off at the train and I got to work a little late, stupid trains.. Ironically I found an awesome way to get to work on Wednesday night for Thursday, there is an express train that runs from Central to Epping and only stops twice on the way. I wish I had seen that in the beginning of my trip… /sigh…
Anyway, after work I went over to Ange’s house. We had planned to get together on Wednesday and ended up having Tuesday and Wednesday because of Jessie’s impromptu plans with Nigel on Tuesday. That night Ange took me to an Italian restaurant that she apparently takes all her dates to, I felt a little “on display” with the waitresses and waiters sizing me up. One waitress actually (not so smoothly) walked by, put a tray down and turned to take a long sizing up glance at me.. I had a great eye fillet with mushroom gravy and Ange had a chicken dish. I’m having a brain cramp as to what type of chicken it was, I know she was going to get the Chicken “in-pajamas” (parmesan), the “in-pajamas” thing came from a commercial they used to air in Australia. I’ve obviously never seen it but it was pretty cute when she was describing it. After dinner we went back to her place and I played her a bunch of music on my iPod before heading to bed. One other thing about her house, she has a four poster bed with almost see through white cloth hanging from it that you can let down to have it make a little sanctuary. Me and Jessie have always talked about wanting a four poster like this and I have to say it was really nice. I think it would be too big for our bedroom with the bed we have but it maybe something to look into.
….
Thursday Ange dropped me off and for the first time I took the express train which worked out really well. I got to class just before 9am but didn’t leave her house till almost 8. The day before we left her house at 7:30 and I didn’t get to work till about 9:15.. Thursday was the last day so I got out early and headed back to the hotel, when I got out I texted Jessie and she was just at the hotel so she decided to wait for me before heading out. We had a really good time at the hotel before heading out to the Wildlife Park. That place was awesome! I’ve never seen a Koala bear actually awake! Every zoo I’ve ever been to that has had Koalas had a habitat that they said they were in but I never saw one other than maybe one asleep way up in a tree. This place had them out in the open air with you, they even had a spot where you could pay to pet one and have your picture taken with one. We didn’t pay but we did get to see them really close up, they are such cute animals. Speaking of cute animals, we also saw a sugar glider and these rabbit eared bandicoots that looked like Mieu (the cat from Phantasy Star I). Also on the cute scale, but not on the same level, I finally saw a real Kangaroo, they had a bunch of them in this prairie and they were really cool looking. We also rock wallabies and an overgrown guinea pig looking creature that was running around like crazy, there was a lady from Australia who told us it was the most active wombat she had ever seen.
After the Wildlife Park the food frustration struck.. Jessie had looked up an Indian restaurant she really wanted to eat at and a micro-brew house that looked cool. We decided we would eat an early dinner at the Indian place and then do late night entrees at the brew-house. So, we went to the Indian place and found they closed from 2:30pm till 6:00pm, since it was only 4:30 we decided to do the reverse, go get entrees and beer at the brew-house and then come back for a later dinner. We walk all the way to the stupid brew-house to find them closed for a private function!! ARGH! So…. We decided to head back to the Indian place and kill some time in the mall shopping till they opened. Got some really cool stuff including a drizabone hat and a wool liner for my duster. We got to the Indian place a few minutes after six and Jessie got some really spicy lamb chops and I got goat curry. It was the first time I had goat and it was good, the lamb was very good as well and I would say it was bordering on what I would call too hot. We also had a mushroom naan which was very good. After we ate we started to head back and it started to pour! It rained so much we ended up jumping in a cab to go back to the hotel and we left puddles in the taxi! Unfortunately in order to get a taxi we had to first walk across the Harbourside Bridge and I walked through a puddle that no shit came half way up my shin!
Got changed at hotel and I grabbed my duster before heading back out to the brew-house. We met Ange there and had a few beers, it was the first brew-house I’ve ever been to where non of the beers were good. Just so you never accidentally go there, it was called Red Oak brew-house and it was BAD, I really can’t stress that fact.. I tried three different beers and Jessie tried three and they were all bad. I had the Christmas Cheer which looked great on paper, the Irish Red and the Honey Ale. Jessie had the St Nicholas which was an unfiltered Belgium ale, a blackberry wheat and the chocolate stout. We left there and went back to City Extra to have some late night snacks and some good beer. Me and Ange split scones and Jessie had banana crepes, I also had a James Squire Amber to make up for the bad beer I had earlier in the night.
….
Well, I guess is the end of this blog… My battery is about to die so I’m going to save this before it’s too late.. I am hoping to post this while in SF so everyone can read it while I’m in the air to Boston…
....
Uploaded pics to flickr from the last day or so.. :D
….
Lets hop in our Delorian, fire up the flux capacitor and bring us back to Monday evening..
Class went a bit longer than I wanted on Monday so by the time I got back to the hotel is was already late. Me and Jessie decided to go upstairs to the executive room and get a drink and some appetizers while we figured out plans for the night. Plus side to the executive room is that we could both use the internet because they had free wireless upstairs and only one wired in the room. First of all, while on the subject of appetizers let me just say that in most other countries they don’t call them appetizers, they call them “entrees” and they call the main course the “main”. At first this seemed odd to me because we are so used to calling our main dish the entrée but it makes more sense to call the first course the entrée and the main course the main course because after all that is what it is… Anyway, back to the story… We ended up eating lots of cheese and bread and having a few glasses of wine while we decided what we wanted to do. If you’ve been looking at Flickr you will have noticed a bunch of pictures from the Aquarium so it’s pretty obvious where this story is going, but we found out that the Aquarium didn’t close till 10pm so we jumped on the ferry and headed over.
The Ferry ride was nice, it was raining but I stood outside at the very front of the boat taking wonderful pictures and seeing the beautiful skyline all lit up. Jessie sat inside by a window and every time the ferry would stop I would run over to her window and give her a little kiss.. It was like a drive up kissing window.. :D
The Aquarium was really cool actually, I’ve been to a bunch of them in the past but it was nice to see the different creatures they have on the southern hemisphere. One of the really cool things was they had Dugongs which are the original “mermaid”, they say that ship hands used to see them in the water and think they were seeing mermaids. I have a few pictures of them and you can clearly see they don’t look like mermaids, well maybe the tail does.. They however amazing looking creatures and they were feeding them massive amounts of lettuce which was cool to watch them eat. They had a walk above them so you could look down into the water and they had one of those glass tunnels you could walk through too so you could see them from the in the water angle. Speaking of in the in the water angle, they had a shark walk too – big deal everyone does now right, but they also had a coral reef exhibit and they had a glass walkway there too. That one was super cool because it not only had a glass ceiling and walls but a glass floor, it was very relaxing to stand there completely surrounded by fish.
We purchased a two park pass which included the Wildlife Park, when I scanned my ticket at the Aquarium it said it was an invalid ticket type for Mondays which was stupid because I had just purchased it. Ironically it didn’t scan correctly at the Wildlife Park either so I ended up giving to Ange to use at both places as long as she uses it before 30 days is up.
After the Aquarium we went to City Extra which is a 24 hour restaurant that serves decent food. I had the fish and chips snack again (see pervious blogs) and Jessie had Potato Wedges which she says were “eh”.
….
Nothing left to see on Monday so.. Onto Tuesday Marty… Tuesday was not at all what it was supposed to be.. Jessie made last minute plans to hang out with Nigel who we met at the Poly meet up on Sunday. I got out of work and went to Scruffy Murphy’s which is a really big Irish pub in Sydney. Someone from Ireland should come there and show them how to be an “Irish Pub”, the only thing that made them an “Irish Pub” was the name and the Guinness. They had techno dance music on and Cricket on the TV, they had slot machines in the back and served regular pub fare for food. I’ve felt more in Ireland at “Irish Pubs” in America. I had a Guinness and then went shopping to kill more time till Ange got out of work. Me and Ange went to a Korean restaurant and had some really good food, she played me some Australian music by her friend but I forgot to get a copy of it. Maybe she can rip it and mail me a MP3 CD of them and George (who she played for us on Thursday). The house Ange lives in does not have heat which is an odd concept for us Americans, it also has really, really high doorknobs. The doorknobs are at face level which is really odd when you’re half asleep looking to open a door.. A few of the doors and windows have this odd creature on the stained glass, I posted (or will post) a pic of it on my flickr site, check it out and let me know what you think it looks like.. :D
….
Wednesday.. Ange dropped me off at the train and I got to work a little late, stupid trains.. Ironically I found an awesome way to get to work on Wednesday night for Thursday, there is an express train that runs from Central to Epping and only stops twice on the way. I wish I had seen that in the beginning of my trip… /sigh…
Anyway, after work I went over to Ange’s house. We had planned to get together on Wednesday and ended up having Tuesday and Wednesday because of Jessie’s impromptu plans with Nigel on Tuesday. That night Ange took me to an Italian restaurant that she apparently takes all her dates to, I felt a little “on display” with the waitresses and waiters sizing me up. One waitress actually (not so smoothly) walked by, put a tray down and turned to take a long sizing up glance at me.. I had a great eye fillet with mushroom gravy and Ange had a chicken dish. I’m having a brain cramp as to what type of chicken it was, I know she was going to get the Chicken “in-pajamas” (parmesan), the “in-pajamas” thing came from a commercial they used to air in Australia. I’ve obviously never seen it but it was pretty cute when she was describing it. After dinner we went back to her place and I played her a bunch of music on my iPod before heading to bed. One other thing about her house, she has a four poster bed with almost see through white cloth hanging from it that you can let down to have it make a little sanctuary. Me and Jessie have always talked about wanting a four poster like this and I have to say it was really nice. I think it would be too big for our bedroom with the bed we have but it maybe something to look into.
….
Thursday Ange dropped me off and for the first time I took the express train which worked out really well. I got to class just before 9am but didn’t leave her house till almost 8. The day before we left her house at 7:30 and I didn’t get to work till about 9:15.. Thursday was the last day so I got out early and headed back to the hotel, when I got out I texted Jessie and she was just at the hotel so she decided to wait for me before heading out. We had a really good time at the hotel before heading out to the Wildlife Park. That place was awesome! I’ve never seen a Koala bear actually awake! Every zoo I’ve ever been to that has had Koalas had a habitat that they said they were in but I never saw one other than maybe one asleep way up in a tree. This place had them out in the open air with you, they even had a spot where you could pay to pet one and have your picture taken with one. We didn’t pay but we did get to see them really close up, they are such cute animals. Speaking of cute animals, we also saw a sugar glider and these rabbit eared bandicoots that looked like Mieu (the cat from Phantasy Star I). Also on the cute scale, but not on the same level, I finally saw a real Kangaroo, they had a bunch of them in this prairie and they were really cool looking. We also rock wallabies and an overgrown guinea pig looking creature that was running around like crazy, there was a lady from Australia who told us it was the most active wombat she had ever seen.
After the Wildlife Park the food frustration struck.. Jessie had looked up an Indian restaurant she really wanted to eat at and a micro-brew house that looked cool. We decided we would eat an early dinner at the Indian place and then do late night entrees at the brew-house. So, we went to the Indian place and found they closed from 2:30pm till 6:00pm, since it was only 4:30 we decided to do the reverse, go get entrees and beer at the brew-house and then come back for a later dinner. We walk all the way to the stupid brew-house to find them closed for a private function!! ARGH! So…. We decided to head back to the Indian place and kill some time in the mall shopping till they opened. Got some really cool stuff including a drizabone hat and a wool liner for my duster. We got to the Indian place a few minutes after six and Jessie got some really spicy lamb chops and I got goat curry. It was the first time I had goat and it was good, the lamb was very good as well and I would say it was bordering on what I would call too hot. We also had a mushroom naan which was very good. After we ate we started to head back and it started to pour! It rained so much we ended up jumping in a cab to go back to the hotel and we left puddles in the taxi! Unfortunately in order to get a taxi we had to first walk across the Harbourside Bridge and I walked through a puddle that no shit came half way up my shin!
Got changed at hotel and I grabbed my duster before heading back out to the brew-house. We met Ange there and had a few beers, it was the first brew-house I’ve ever been to where non of the beers were good. Just so you never accidentally go there, it was called Red Oak brew-house and it was BAD, I really can’t stress that fact.. I tried three different beers and Jessie tried three and they were all bad. I had the Christmas Cheer which looked great on paper, the Irish Red and the Honey Ale. Jessie had the St Nicholas which was an unfiltered Belgium ale, a blackberry wheat and the chocolate stout. We left there and went back to City Extra to have some late night snacks and some good beer. Me and Ange split scones and Jessie had banana crepes, I also had a James Squire Amber to make up for the bad beer I had earlier in the night.
….
Well, I guess is the end of this blog… My battery is about to die so I’m going to save this before it’s too late.. I am hoping to post this while in SF so everyone can read it while I’m in the air to Boston…
....
Uploaded pics to flickr from the last day or so.. :D
Monday, February 9, 2009
From the Ocean to the Mountains, Australian Style
Saturday morning me and Jessie went for breakfast up at the Quay, she had a salmon, egg and spinach sandwich on a bagel and I had a BLT which served on Turkish bread. She was not very impressed with the bagel, but liked the sandwich as a whole. The BLT however was great, I really like Turkish bread which is crunchy but also soft and how could you not love a sandwich of back bacon! After breakfast we grabbed the ferry and headed over to Manly to hit the beach.
Although it was very warm out the water was crazy cold.. We got to the beach and found an empty spot close to the water to put our towels (newly purchased) down. There were two girls sitting down feeding the birds so we asked them to watch our stuff for a few minutes while we went into the water, they said yeah and laughed giving us 5 minutes, no make that 2 before we get back. Me and Jessie walked down to the water and I got my feet in up to the shins before retreating back to the towels, Jessie actually got in and went swimming for a few minutes before joining me at the towels. We ended up chatting with Sara and Irina for awhile, Sara is from the Netherlands and Irina is from Russia via Spain. They met at the university over by work where they work. When they were getting ready to leave I asked them to lunch on Monday which Sara accepted, we were to meet today at 12:15 at the escalators.
Me and Jessie soaked in the sun for a bit longer before heading out to the upstairs bar that overlooks the beach where we had a beer each before heading back towards the city. Jessie had been talking to guy Mik who lives in SF but spent some time in Sydney, he recommended eating Turkish Pizza over at a place called Saray's. We went over there for dinner, most places in Sydney are BYO (Bring Your Own) which is really good because you can usually buy an entire bottle of wine or beer for the same price you would normally pay for one glass at a restaurant. Before dinner we went to a bottle shop and got a bottle of sparkling shiraz, being American I never thought of red sparkling wine before but it was really good and I'm actually surprised now that we don't have sparkling reds in America. Armed with our sparkling shiraz we went in and got some pizza. Jessie got a lamb pizza and I got a egg and sausage pizza, they were both they were both so much better with the addition of a tzatziki style sauce Jessie got to "dip" the pizza in. I say "dip" because we really just smothered it on and enjoyed. Jessie also got one of the grape leaves because we were watching the lady make them fresh, it was the first time I've ever had one of those that was spicy.. It was so good.
After dinner Ange called, her evening ended early and she was still up and very awake. She met us at the hotel and we ended up driving with her up the Rocks to park and walk back to the hotel. I thought the pub on the Quays was still open but it was not so we went back to the hotel bar which was just calling last call. Jessie got a beer and I got two beers since it was last call and we all hung out and chatted while we drank our beers. Afterwards I walked her back to her car and she drove me back to the hotel. I know she's probably reading this right now so I won't say too much, but.. OK, I know, when has that stopped me before... Ange is a very cool person, I had a blast talking to her on the phone the other night hanging out with her in person was even better. It felt very comfortable for the three of us to hang out, it was like she was an old friend instead of someone we just met. I'm hanging out with again on Wednesday night and really looking forward to it.
----
Speaking of looking forward to it... I was speaking with Robyn today and she is having problems with her car, it seems to be overheating.. After about 15 minutes of driving the car starts getting hot, the heat gets up to middle bar and then the check engine light comes on. Apparently the vents in the car are still blowing cold air but... I didn't get to talk to much about it with her because I just found out this morning but I had to run to class so we had to cut our conversation short. She is going to check into the cost of bringing to the dealer but if this does not get fixed she may not be coming up this weekend! I'm not very car savvy, anyone who is have any ideas? I would really hate to have her not come up, but I would hate it more if her car died on the way.
/sigh
----
Sunday we got up early-ish and headed up to breakfast before catching the train to the Blue Mountains. We took the subway from Circular Quay to Center Station and purchased round trip tickets to go from Central to the Blue Mountains (Katoomba) which was a complete waste because they didn't have a swipe thing or a collector at the Katoomba station and we didn't need them to get back either because once back in the city limits we could use our regular week passes. We had to wait awhile for the train and once we got on it was way to air conditioned, we were frozen by the time we got out there. Warmed up quickly once we were back out of the air conditioning. Grabbed the Big Bus Tour around the Blue Mountains and got off and Scenic World which had a open glass floored sky ride over the ravine to a restaurant & shop. From the restaurant you can take a 415 metre railway that runs at a 52 degree decline into the valley floor. Once on the floor there is a 50 minute walk through the brush before heading back up in another sky ride. The walk was amazing and took us a bit over the 50 minutes, my foot actually started to feel really good while I was walking down there in the woods, so much so that I was not limping towards the end! It didn't last long, I would say once we were back into town I started to limp again.. Maybe I just need to live in the woods.. Anyway, at one point on the path there was a gazebo they called the rainforest room, it had pews and a podium which would have been the greatest place ever to teach a class from. We took bunches of pictures yesterday and I posted what I considered the best ones from my phone.
We left Scenic World and met Kate from Canada on the bus heading back to the train, she was very cool and was in Sydney for awhile but was heading home soon. We got off the bus and the three of us went to a market before she left and got the train that we missed because we were still looking at stores and I was getting food when it came. We ended up getting off the train early and grabbed a train into Newtown to go to the Poly meetup. We met a few cool people there and had some good conversation before heading to dinner at Thai Tanic, I know lame name.. We had a good time chatting over dinner and one of the guys, Nigel, drove us back towards the hotel. He lives in Manly and made the offer to take us snorkeling, I think Jessie is planning on taking him up on the offer which should be really cool for her.
----
So, Jessie and Ange have been chatting and Jessie mentioned Elizabeth's username. I wonder what Elizabeth's reaction to a girl in Australia stalking her is going to be...
----
So onto today... Sorry for the long blog but not much time to write when you're living it... You know the line, "Don't dream it, be it".. That line is still just as much true today as it was when Tim said it in 1975. Remember that and you'll never want for excitement and enjoyment in your life..
Not much going on here, just watching students do labs.. I went to lunch today, got to the escalator at 12:10 and much to my pleasant surprise Sara showed up pretty much right on time! We chatted while we ate and then went and sat outside on a bench and chatted some more till I had to go back to work. We are going to meet tomorrow too.. She has a boyfriend back home and is not interested in doing anything while here in Sydney but loves meeting new people..
I have no idea what the plan is for tonight, I will text Jessie when I get out and see if she has any ideas.
---Thought of the Day
"Don't dream it, Be-ee it"
"What Spirit is, man can be"
Who needs the Bear Necessities when you can have it all!
"I want it all, and I want it now"
Although it was very warm out the water was crazy cold.. We got to the beach and found an empty spot close to the water to put our towels (newly purchased) down. There were two girls sitting down feeding the birds so we asked them to watch our stuff for a few minutes while we went into the water, they said yeah and laughed giving us 5 minutes, no make that 2 before we get back. Me and Jessie walked down to the water and I got my feet in up to the shins before retreating back to the towels, Jessie actually got in and went swimming for a few minutes before joining me at the towels. We ended up chatting with Sara and Irina for awhile, Sara is from the Netherlands and Irina is from Russia via Spain. They met at the university over by work where they work. When they were getting ready to leave I asked them to lunch on Monday which Sara accepted, we were to meet today at 12:15 at the escalators.
Me and Jessie soaked in the sun for a bit longer before heading out to the upstairs bar that overlooks the beach where we had a beer each before heading back towards the city. Jessie had been talking to guy Mik who lives in SF but spent some time in Sydney, he recommended eating Turkish Pizza over at a place called Saray's. We went over there for dinner, most places in Sydney are BYO (Bring Your Own) which is really good because you can usually buy an entire bottle of wine or beer for the same price you would normally pay for one glass at a restaurant. Before dinner we went to a bottle shop and got a bottle of sparkling shiraz, being American I never thought of red sparkling wine before but it was really good and I'm actually surprised now that we don't have sparkling reds in America. Armed with our sparkling shiraz we went in and got some pizza. Jessie got a lamb pizza and I got a egg and sausage pizza, they were both they were both so much better with the addition of a tzatziki style sauce Jessie got to "dip" the pizza in. I say "dip" because we really just smothered it on and enjoyed. Jessie also got one of the grape leaves because we were watching the lady make them fresh, it was the first time I've ever had one of those that was spicy.. It was so good.
After dinner Ange called, her evening ended early and she was still up and very awake. She met us at the hotel and we ended up driving with her up the Rocks to park and walk back to the hotel. I thought the pub on the Quays was still open but it was not so we went back to the hotel bar which was just calling last call. Jessie got a beer and I got two beers since it was last call and we all hung out and chatted while we drank our beers. Afterwards I walked her back to her car and she drove me back to the hotel. I know she's probably reading this right now so I won't say too much, but.. OK, I know, when has that stopped me before... Ange is a very cool person, I had a blast talking to her on the phone the other night hanging out with her in person was even better. It felt very comfortable for the three of us to hang out, it was like she was an old friend instead of someone we just met. I'm hanging out with again on Wednesday night and really looking forward to it.
----
Speaking of looking forward to it... I was speaking with Robyn today and she is having problems with her car, it seems to be overheating.. After about 15 minutes of driving the car starts getting hot, the heat gets up to middle bar and then the check engine light comes on. Apparently the vents in the car are still blowing cold air but... I didn't get to talk to much about it with her because I just found out this morning but I had to run to class so we had to cut our conversation short. She is going to check into the cost of bringing to the dealer but if this does not get fixed she may not be coming up this weekend! I'm not very car savvy, anyone who is have any ideas? I would really hate to have her not come up, but I would hate it more if her car died on the way.
/sigh
----
Sunday we got up early-ish and headed up to breakfast before catching the train to the Blue Mountains. We took the subway from Circular Quay to Center Station and purchased round trip tickets to go from Central to the Blue Mountains (Katoomba) which was a complete waste because they didn't have a swipe thing or a collector at the Katoomba station and we didn't need them to get back either because once back in the city limits we could use our regular week passes. We had to wait awhile for the train and once we got on it was way to air conditioned, we were frozen by the time we got out there. Warmed up quickly once we were back out of the air conditioning. Grabbed the Big Bus Tour around the Blue Mountains and got off and Scenic World which had a open glass floored sky ride over the ravine to a restaurant & shop. From the restaurant you can take a 415 metre railway that runs at a 52 degree decline into the valley floor. Once on the floor there is a 50 minute walk through the brush before heading back up in another sky ride. The walk was amazing and took us a bit over the 50 minutes, my foot actually started to feel really good while I was walking down there in the woods, so much so that I was not limping towards the end! It didn't last long, I would say once we were back into town I started to limp again.. Maybe I just need to live in the woods.. Anyway, at one point on the path there was a gazebo they called the rainforest room, it had pews and a podium which would have been the greatest place ever to teach a class from. We took bunches of pictures yesterday and I posted what I considered the best ones from my phone.
We left Scenic World and met Kate from Canada on the bus heading back to the train, she was very cool and was in Sydney for awhile but was heading home soon. We got off the bus and the three of us went to a market before she left and got the train that we missed because we were still looking at stores and I was getting food when it came. We ended up getting off the train early and grabbed a train into Newtown to go to the Poly meetup. We met a few cool people there and had some good conversation before heading to dinner at Thai Tanic, I know lame name.. We had a good time chatting over dinner and one of the guys, Nigel, drove us back towards the hotel. He lives in Manly and made the offer to take us snorkeling, I think Jessie is planning on taking him up on the offer which should be really cool for her.
----
So, Jessie and Ange have been chatting and Jessie mentioned Elizabeth's username. I wonder what Elizabeth's reaction to a girl in Australia stalking her is going to be...
----
So onto today... Sorry for the long blog but not much time to write when you're living it... You know the line, "Don't dream it, be it".. That line is still just as much true today as it was when Tim said it in 1975. Remember that and you'll never want for excitement and enjoyment in your life..
Not much going on here, just watching students do labs.. I went to lunch today, got to the escalator at 12:10 and much to my pleasant surprise Sara showed up pretty much right on time! We chatted while we ate and then went and sat outside on a bench and chatted some more till I had to go back to work. We are going to meet tomorrow too.. She has a boyfriend back home and is not interested in doing anything while here in Sydney but loves meeting new people..
I have no idea what the plan is for tonight, I will text Jessie when I get out and see if she has any ideas.
---Thought of the Day
"Don't dream it, Be-ee it"
"What Spirit is, man can be"
Who needs the Bear Necessities when you can have it all!
"I want it all, and I want it now"
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