Family

Meetup’s with Friends and Family

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Today M and I went upstate again to visit a different friend. One of her best friends since growing up was visiting her parents lake house and we decided to go up and see her and her kids.  She is not around too often since she lives near DC.  Getting there was as painful as going to Jayson.  It was 90 minutes on Metro North.

The house was amazing.  it was right on the water with a pool.  We had a great afternoon.  I will say that houses with kids pack the best snacks.  M and I were very well fed.

After the lake afternoon we headed back into the city to meet up with M’s oldest nephew, and in 6 months my soon to be oldest nephew and a friend of his who were in town for the weekend.  We ate at the Shake Shack.  As always it was delicious.

Once we were full from burgers we pondered about were to go with the out of town college kids.  Once we realized that Ryan’s friend never has been in a tall building we headed to The View at the Marriot.  Even for people who live in NYC, having drinks on the 48th floor in a revolving restaurant was pretty cool.  We had a good evening and it was fun taking the “kids” around the city.

We cabbed it home since it was late and we were pretty lazy!

The Meeting of the Families

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Today was the day that my parents and M’s parents met for the first time.  We decided on Sunday brunch to bring everyone together.  I will be honest and say I was a bit nervous.  I think I get along with M’s parents great, and my parents love her but just getting them all in the same room for the first time you never know what anyone is going to say.

I didn’t have that much to worry about.  Or I should rephrase, I think I had plenty to worry about but everything was as close to perfect as you can get in a situation like that.  We picked a really nice brunch place in mid-town.  It was a really good buffet and all the parents were on their best behaviors.  All in all a good meeting.

After the brunch my parents drove us home and they got to see the apartment for the first time.  It was a brief visit since they had to run home, but at least they got to see it.

The rest of the day was much tamer than the early afternoon and M and I just hung out and got work done around the house.

My Mom’s Birthday

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Today we got up and went to a local Crepes place in Woodside. We had seen it on Yelp a few weeks ago and had wanted to try it but have been busy. I have been craving crepes since our trip to France. I fell in love with them there. It was nice to find a Crepes place in Woodside, and it turned out to be this really small nice place. After getting us lost (my fault) we finally found the place and had a great breakfast.

We did work around the house during the day and then traveled out to Little Neck to meet my mom for her birthday. My mom wanted to take M and I to one of her favorite restaurants. My dad wasn’t feeling well so he stayed home. We had a great meal before M and I had to rush to the LIRR to head home. The only issue with visiting my parents on the weekend is that there is only 1 train every hour. Thankfully we are in woodside and it is really easy to take the LIRR to my folks. In LIC it was significantly more difficult.

My One Day of Religion a Year

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Today M and I went out to Long Island for a party celebrating her Aunt’s 60th year as a nun.  We meet up with her Parents, one of her brothers, her sister in law and 2 nephews.  It was an interesting party.  It was the first time we saw everyone since we got engaged so that was different.

Being in family photos was a bit different for me since it is a new family for me.

Besides the party I was just happy that a major work release went over well and didn’t cause a distraction durring the day.

Venue Visits and a BBQ

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Today M and I went back to visit the View on the Hudson with my mom to show her the venue. We still think that venue is the front runner for us. We also had an appointment to another venue that my mom originally recommended that is out on Long Island.

My mom loved the View. After talking it over M and I agreed the View on the Hudson was the place for us. We canceled the last appointment we scheduled later in the day.

We went back to Bayside and had lunch with my mom. After that we got my dad and went to my friend Amy’s BBQ. It was fun. There were lots of people there I hand’t seen in ages. It was also good to introduce M to everyone.

We had a ton of fun. After the BBQ we took the LIRR back to Woodside.

4Th Birthday Party

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Today I went to my nephew’s 4th birthday party. It was a bit early this year since my sister won at an auction an appearance / performance of Zachary’s favorite musical performer. This guy is like kiddie crack for Zack. He loves his music. So in order to have him for the party they had it a few weeks before Zachary’s birthday.

It was a long day for me since I had to get up early to catch a train out to south NJ. That on top of the fact that I was out kinda late I was tired. The party was fun. They had it outside in my sisters back yard. There were tons of kids there. I took a bunch of photo’s that are on my flickr stream now.

It was great see’ing the family, but I didn’t plan to stay over so I was on my way back to the city after dinner. All in all a very fun but action packed day!

Passover With The Family

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Today was the first night of Passover. My family met at my brother-in-law’s dads apartment in the city. There were a lot of people there. Besides my sister, her husband, and her three kids, my brother-in-law’s sister, her husband and 3 kids, my brother-inlaw’s dad, his brother and some of his grandchildren. In total there were nine kids, and become adults. We did an extremely abridged children’s seder. It was good seeing everybody had a great time playing with the kids. I’ve also happy that I was able to get a ride home from my parents, but usually do when we go to Donnie.

Canceled Plans

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So my plans to see my dad got canceled at the last minute. Apparently he got a cold this weekend. When I called he didn’t sound to hot and he didn’t want to get me sick. There was also the not wanting to drive to get me and the computer either. We decided it best to reschedule for next week.

My dilemma was it was 11AM and I was awake and fully dressed on a Sunday. For me that is an accomplishment if I am not planning on going anywhere. I ended up going into Manhattan to do some shopping for a bit and then I headed home in the mid afternoon. I cleaned up my apartment and decided to take a crack at my task list to do at home that I have been ignoring.

Overall a nice relaxing day. Hoping this week at work wont be too hectic, but I have to goto NJ in the middle of the week so I am not so sure.

Tech Support Day Tomorrow

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I am in the process of setting my parents up with a new iMac. For years I have been trying to get them to switch to a Mac. They are on their 3rd computer in like 4 years and having problems. That number is a bit misleading. They had a 3 year old machine that finally went and we got them an HP desktop. The on board video went or was slowly dying on that and there was no expansion slot so about a year or so ago I ordered them a new Dell desktop. Unfortunately over the past few months they have been having huge issues with it. It is all software based, and I could probably wipe it and restore it and all will be good but the thing has Vista, and it would take a large amount of time for me to do that.

I was surprised that my dad asked about if it was time for a Mac. Way back when the Power PC Mini was out I gave them one to try. Unfortunately it was slow and it spoiled his views on the Mac. I think his work friends convinced him it is easy and fast. That on top of all the issues he was having made it the right time to get them to switch.

The new 21″ iMac arrived at my apartment on Wednesday. I am installing some basic programs now, and my dad will come pick it up tomorrow. I will go over to his place and move his files over and setup the machine for him. Hopefully that will be uneventful.

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March 16, 2010

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Today I am 36 years old. I don’t feel that old. Today was a generally typical day at work. I had a bunch of meetings, but was able to get out for lunch with 2 other guys to semi-celibrate my b-day. We went to a pizza place that was in an old converted church near work. It had decent food.

After work I went home and met my parents for dinner. They took me to the Crab House in LIC. I like that place. We had a nice dinner. I didn’t get my present since my mom isn’t finished with it. She is knitting me a blanket for my couch. My dad was lame and forgot to get any bday cards. I am not normally a card fan but he usually gets funny ones.

As birthdays go this was normal. It was a nice day, but nothing spectacular. That is the problem with most birthdays. They aren’t bad, but they have so much hype and then generally underwhelm.