Friends

All I Did For My Birthday is Go To The Grocery Store

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Yes, you read that correctly: the main activity for my birthday was a trip to a grocery store called Omega Mart.

So while the title is technically true, it needs some context. For a milestone birthday (let’s leave the number out of this), we planned a long weekend in Las Vegas. Hopefully, I’ll write more about that trip later. Including M and myself, there were about eight of us. I had a pretty solid plan for the evenings—this is Vegas, after all. Plenty of speakeasies for good cocktails and amazing food. But I hadn’t put much thought into daytime activities for our few days there.

While running through ideas with a friend who’s been living in Vegas since college, he suggested Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart. I had no clue what it was, but the group was up for it. The group we had in total was eight people, though our numbers shifted throughout the weekend as some people arrived early and left early, while others came later and stayed longer. Initially, we planned to visit Omega Mart the day before my birthday with 6 of us that was there, but between scheduling issues and a downpour, we couldn’t make it. Thankfully, one of my friends managed to reschedule usfor the next day, which worked out well because two friends who were arriving that night could join us, too. That made it a full house.

On the day, I discovered that Omega Mart is… a supermarket disguised as an interactive art exhibit. Or maybe it’s an interactive art exhibit disguised as a supermarket? I’m still not sure. After spending hours there, I’m not entirely certain of much about Omega Mart.

Omega Mart is located in a warehouse-like complex called Area15. You enter the store as you would any regular grocery store. There are aisles stocked with products you can actually buy—each one weirder than the last. I wanted to take home half of them! (See photos for some truly bizarre examples.) After a few minutes of browsing the aisles, I was really enjoying myself, and then things got weird—in the best way possible. I noticed a hidden passageway through one of the freezer doors. A friend suggested waiting until everyone was ready before going in, but after a minute or two, my curiosity got the better of me, and I went in anyway.

What awaited us on the other side felt like stepping into another universe. I think that’s actually how they describe it. Almost on cue, a friend who we were waiting for outside in the freezer aisle wandered in from a different passageway, saying, “Oh, you found this place too!” Glad we didn’t wait for them!

We spent the next few hours exploring this alternate universe, with the occasional detour back to the grocery store. Everyone had a blast. What I didn’t realise at the time was that there were interactive storylines and mysteries woven throughout the place. One of my friends texted his teenage son about it, and his son immediately told us to check out the freezer. Apparently, he was already familiar with Omega Mart. Until two days prior, I had no idea this place even existed.

Honestly, describing the alternate universe we explored is hard to do justice here. I recommend checking out their website and reading some reviews. I’ll post a few photos, but it was visually captivating enough that I wouldn’t hesitate to return if I were in Vegas again.

When we’d seen enough, we exited Omega Mart and headed to a bar in the middle of Area15, right by Omega Mart’s entrance. I ordered an old-fashioned, smoked right in front of me, while a friend ordered some crazy drink that was lit on fire and bubbled up with a massive bubble before he drank it. Yes, we took several photos and videos—it was awesome.

We did other things too. Before Omega Mart, we had a fantastic dim sum lunch. Later that evening, we went for an amazing steak dinner. Living in London while most of my friends live around New York, I was genuinely touched that so many made the effort to come out and celebrate with me.

If you asked me to describe my perfect birthday, it probably wouldn’t have included a place like Omega Mart. And yet, I had a fantastic time. A solid reminder to always keep an open mind!

UK Bank Holiday, aka Cinco De Mayo

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For Cinco De Mayo I meet up with my friend Tom from work. He took me over to Hamstead Heath for a nice walk and to show me the London skyline. After that we hit a local pub for lunch and some afternoon bank holiday drinking. It was good to talk and hang out. We talk all the time at work but always on the phone. It is always good to get some good old fashioned bonding done when you are in the same city with someone you only speak to on the phone.

After leaving the pub with Tom I headed back to the hotel. It was early so I really didn’t know what else to do.  I headed out to forage for dinner.  Maybe it was the alcohol or the fact that there was no line but I ended up eating at the Shake Shack in Covent Gardens. When I told her about it MC made some fun of me for doing that but I maintain if i was on the moon and there was a Shake Shack with no line i would eat there. Seriously that place always has a line. I was just utilizing an opportunity.  It was the perfect after drinks meal for someone who wasn’t keeping track of what they eat while they travel.

After the meal it was back to the hotel and a FaceTime with MC and the kids and now off to bed since it was back to work tomorrow.

Road Trip to Jayson’s (and Gretchen’s)

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Today we got up early and got a Zipcar and went to Jayson & Gretchen’s for the day.  It was funny since we thought there was going to be a BBQ but they canceled the BBQ since it was going to be super hot and they just wanted to catch up with us.  The drive up was ok.  Teagan was fussy for the first 45 minutes to an hour.  We are not sure why.  She typically goes right down for a nap in the car but didn’t this trip.  After stopping for a few minutes along the way she did settle down.

We got to see their new garden and chickens they were raising.  I still find it a bit funny that Jayson is trying to raise chickens but I also think its really cool.  I am not sure if I would put that much work into it.  Teagan got to pet some chickens.  She also got to play with Seth and Eli.  She got along with both of them but her new friend is Seth.  She was making her laugh so much it was so cute to see.

Teagan also got to play with their dog Hemmi.  As we were driving up MC asked if we could take Teagan to a dog park one day.  I then was wondering who we knew with a dog she could play with instead.  Then it dawned on both of us that we were driving to a friends house who had a dog.  Teagan chased Hemmi all over.  She was generally gentle but did pull his ears a bit.  She had fun, and i would like to think Hemmi did too.

On the way home we were smart and finally asked Jayson & Gretchen the best route to take since the way we have been going to them has no traffic but its a very tight windy road.  They told us a better way that uses interstates.  it may get more chance of traffic and be slightly (5-10 minutes) longer but it was worth the risk and the ride was much easier.

Overall it was a good day with old friends.

Drinks With Rich at The Station House

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Even though I was feeling sick earlier in the week I was hoping I was up for making it out for dinner/drinks with Rich.  His wife told me he would be solo this weekend since she was going away with the kids.  It was a perfect time for him and I to meet up.  Once I realized I was still up for meeting up we settled on a new place in the neighborhood to try out.  The Station House menu looked good so out of the several new places we looked at we decided to check it out.

We haven’t hung out in months so it was good to get together and just have a drink and grab some food.  I stuck with my typical Jack and coke.  Even though their menu was very interesting I opted for a burger.  I have been dieting so a good bacon cheeseburger was a nice splurge.  I also tried the fried snickers desert.  It was not as good as I thought it would be but the burger was very good.

Meeting up with old friends

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My friends Joe & Karen and their little one Logan were in town.  We don’t get to see them very often so I wanted to be sure I could see them.  Unfortunately the night they were free MC couldn’t get out.  It is still difficult to schedule stuff with a 2 month old.  I ended up meeting up with them on my own right from work.

We went to Sparks Steakhouse for dinner.  We meet other friends of theirs in one big group since they weren’t in for that long to have separate meetups with everyone.  I was suprised how good Logan was at dinner and I hope Teagan will be the same way!

The food was good but it wasn’t as good as I remembered from when MC & I went here for my birthday two years ago.  Either way it was great to be able to see everyone even if it was just for dinner.

Meetup With Gus

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Today I met up with Gus after work to grab some drinks and dinner. He emailed me a week or so ago seeing if I wanted to meet up before the baby came. Since I was doing that with a lot of people anyway it was perfect timing.

Both of us were able to get out relatively early and we met up at a sushi place near Union Square that he highly recommended. The food was pretty good, and I tried unfiltered sake for the first time. MC and I have tried regular cold sake but never the unfiltered. Gus insisted we try it and it turned out to be very tasty.

It was good to see him and hang out. We talked about a numerous topics and were able to get out relatively early so I was able to get home at a decent hour. I was glad for that since I had been up since 5:45 to do a call with China.

Tuesday, August 28

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I think I’m going back to using the date as the title of blog posts instead of coming up with snappy subjects for each regular day I write about.

Today was the first day are cleaning has been here since late July. I think she took some vacation time and also was resting from minor injury. We were glad that she’s back. Her arrival meant I had to leave for work early. I had a lot to do anyway.

I know I have an awesome wife when her best friend is going to be in town and she says I might be busy Saturday night because it’s the premiere of Dr. Who. I didn’t think of that and of course I’m available see her friend. I just thought it was hysterical that she would think that I would want to bail out for TV. It was very sweet though.

On the plus side one of MC’s best friend that lives in DC is going to be in New York this weekend. We will hopefully get to see her for brunch one day.

This evening was pretty low-key. I need to get up early for a meeting at 6 AM going to bed early. The rest of the night was taken up with a little bit of TV, and calling some perspective nannies.

Visiting MC’s Friend

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Today MC and I traveled out to Long Island to visit her friend Liz and her family. MC has been wanting to visit all summer, but with the baby on the way and other commitments we have not yet been able to make the trip. We were glad to be able to go now before it came really close to the baby’s due date and we wouldn’t be able to go.

It was only about a 30 minute train trip on the Long Island Railroad, so that was pretty easy especially for nine month pregnant lady. Overall it was a good visit. We hung out, had barbecue, and MC was able to catch up with her old friend.

Liz’s husband cooked barbecue, it was really good. We brought cupcakes from Martha’s bakery. I generally like Martha’s a lot, but the cupcakes were just okay. I will still go back to crumbs for my cupcake fix!

The Trip Home From New Mexico

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Today we had to get up early and make the drive from Santa Fe back to Albuquerque to fly home.  I will take this time to mention we rented a XM Satellite radio for the trip from the rental company since we knew we would be in the middle of nowhere.  Wow, those things suck.  There were times when we didn’t even have any obstruction and it had trouble playing music.  Next time i thin we will be ok with just using music on my iPhone.  The iPhone had a few moments but otherwise it worked pretty well as a GPS.  The problems we had were with the TomTom app having really bad data on POI’s.  Wow it had stuff in there with addresses that were flat out wrong.

Because Santa Fe was so far from the airport and we had to get the rental car back by noon and we didn’t have a flight till 2:30 we got to the airport way too early.  Our luck there was no airport club, wifi or much to do.  We got some more reading in and found a sports bar for lunch.

To yet again prove how small a world it is, when we were boarding the plane M saw her friend Cormac settling into his seat for the flight home.  After we were in the air he came over to talk and it turns out he was in New Mexico for a conference.  We had the same connecting flight in Dallas so we all grabbed lunch before taking off back to NY.  We got back to LGA so late that all we did was head home and crash.

This vacation turned out to be just what we needed.  It was restful, fun, and a great trip.  It is hard to compare to our last trip to Europe but it was awesome in its own way!