Food

Passover Weekend

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This weekend was the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. Now I never claim to be a religious person but on a holiday like this I do get together with my family and do the whole family holiday thing. If anything, it is nice to get together with my family.

On Saturday I went with my parents to my mom’s friend Martha’s house for the first night of Passover. It was a nice night. Thankfully I wasn’t the only person my age there. I was the only guy, but that wasn’t a bad thing. Overall it was a nice evening. Carrie and the kids were in Jamaica, or shall I say coming back from Jamaica so we didn’t see them on Saturday. What is so weird about going to my mom’s friend Martha’s is that my mom actually met her through me. Martha was actually one of my High School history teachers. I actually did well in her class, and ended up doing service work for her in I think the attendance dept. Turned out that she went to the same beach club my family went to, so my mom and dad would meet up with her and her husband every so often. After I was out of school I guess the began hanging out more, and last spring my mom went to europe with her. Martha is a knowledgeable traveler. Well I just find it a funny side story, so i decided to throw it in here.

Sunday the entire family went to my sisters father in law’s apartment in Manhattan. That meant that besides Zachary & Morgan there where 3 other little ones. Lauren and andrew were there with the twins (Ethan & Tyler) and Evan. There was lots of yelling and running around, but they are all so cute! It wasn’t a restful night but it was fun getting together with everyone.

Too Much Drink

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Last night I went out to celebrate my friend John’s birthday. It was John, Jayson and a bunch of John’s friends. We went to the House of Brews. It was fun, but I didn’t realize I drank as much as I did, or the desert I had for dinner hurt me. Either way I had a horrible night. I felt sick all night and barely slept. I ended up lying around my apartment the entire day trying to recover. So I learned that no I shouldn’t have chocolate peanut butter cake for dinner, and I shouldn’t drink that much! I knew the later part, but I never learn!

The Piano Bar

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Last night I went back to Sweet Caroline’s with some friends. My friend Grechen’s friend was having a birthday get together there so a bunch of people went. Like last weekend, it was allot of fun. This time I didn’t drink as much, but it was a good show.

My Birthday Weekend

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Wow, I need a vacation to recover from this weekend. Last Sunday was my birthday. If you know the calendar at all you would also know that Monday was St. Patrick’s day. With both events so close craziness ensues. I went out every night from Thursday through Monday. Thursday & Friday I went out with people from work. We went to a bar or two and drank. It is always fun to unwind with them.

Saturday I went with Gretchen & Jayson to a Piano Bar. They have been a few times but it was my first time to this one, Sweet Caroline’s. It was fun. I always loved the dueling piano bar in the New York, New York hotel in Las Vegas, and the one in Pat O’Brien’s on Burbon Street. I had a fun time, even though I drank much more than I had planned.

Sunday night my parents took me to the Waterfront Crab House in Long Island City for my birthday diner. It was good. I had king crab legs, and finished off my mom’s crab cakes. It was good food and I had a good time.

Monday I meet up with Douge, Yan, and a few others for a few drinks on St. Patrick’s day. I didn’t stay out too late since I was really tired from the long weekend of being out, but it was fun meeting up for a little while.

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More Shopping Today

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Today I took it easy in the morning and then headed out to the Queens Center Mall. The nasty weather didn’t really deter me. It wasn’t really raining/snowing that much by the time I left my apartment. I meet up with Jayson for some light shopping. I ended up not getting much but we found our way to the Outback for some lunch and hung out for a bit. Nice light fare for my vacation!

Saturday Shopping

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Today I braved the cold weather and headed into Manhattan for some shopping. My main goal was to get a pair of new glasses. I have a relatively new pair (a year and a half old) but I wasn’t super happy with the way they looked. They were narrow lenses that seem to be the only major stye you can find in eye glasses. The problem with that is that I have Nystagmus, so even if I am not trying to my eyes would sometimes view an area of my view that was not covered by the glasses. Needless to say this is annoying. I got used to it for the most part but it came up now and again.

I wanted to find a pair of decent pair of round frames like I had previously had. When I got my old pair I couldn’t find a pair of round ones that fit right to replace the old pair I had, so I tried the narrow oval style instead. This time around I was able to find a nice light pair of round frames that covered my field of view so even with the Nystagmus I don’t have an issue.

While the glasses were being made at Lenscrafters I took a trip to the new Apple Store on 14th street. That was a mistake. I didn’t realize it was on 9th ave. For some reason I thought 8th, so it was a really long walk in the freezing cold. I did get a pair of Bose in ear headphones for my iPod Classic. I tried Jayson’s pair and knew in a minute that they were a good buy! I finally got fed up with the Apple ones that came with my iPod that I have been suffering with for years.

After getting my glasses I meet up with Danny in Union Square and went to Dukes for some dinner and drinks. It was a freezing experience, but overall a great day!

Vacation to Nowhere

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I tried to make today as eventless as possible. It was my last day at work before my vacation. I didn’t need any excitement to delay my rest. Thankfully I had good mojo or something since nothing crazy happened like earlier in the week.

I hit the local bar everyone from work goes to for a quick drink before my vacation began. I am off for 11 days counting weekends and the christmas holiday. I am not really going anywhere, but I needed to take some time off. I haven’t been on a vacation since my Cancun trip in 2005. For this vacation I couldn’t think of where to go and couldn’t find any travel companion’s so I just decided to take time off and relax. The second half of the week I am going to my sisters in New Jersey to see her and the kids and to babysit one night. So that will break up the vacation a bit.

Even though I am not going anywhere I am not going to contact work. That means my Blackberry is off, I have the away message in my email client running, and I told everyone in my group I would only answer the phone for them and only if it was during certain times of the day. I need some time to relax. Lets see how that goes!

Lunch with Danny & Jayson

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Today I was able to get away from the office for about an hour to have lunch with Jayson & Danny. We just hit a dinner, but it was good to get out of the office and sit down for a change. Otherwise a relatively (for me) uneventful day.

Dinner With The Family

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I took a trip to the Queens Center mall today to try and do some clothing shopping before the crazy holiday season takes off. Well, I was too late. Apparently the holidays do in fact start before thanksgiving if the level of crowds and decorations at the mall are any indication. I ended up not buying anything. I didn’t find any clothes that I wanted. I was actually disappointed by the selection of stores at that mall. Most of the ones I would shop in that I tend to expect to be standard fare at a mall weren’t there. The ones that were didn’t have anything that caught my eye. So the trip was a bust.

On the plus side the mall trip was part of my master plan to get to see my family for dinner. My sister, niece, and nephew were at my parents so my mom picked me up from the mall and we all went out to eat. I then got a ride home. It was fun seeing everyone. Those kids keep me laughing. Thankfully I will see them again in a few days for Thanksgiving.

This visit with my sister also got me up to date on what I will be getting the kids for the holidays. It is nice to have a web site and a product number so I don’t have to go back to the mall!!! I will be online later this week to place my orders, even though I still maintain that Zack would be happy with an empty box.

Johnnie Walker Blue

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Today I finally cracked open a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue that I brought back with me when I was in France over the summer. It was worth the wait. I wasn’t daring enough to drink it straight but it was really nice over some ice. I am almost upset that I liked it. By liking it, I now have another potentially expensive habit. Now all I need is a library, a few plush leather chairs, fireplace and cigars or pipes and I will be in the stereotypical old man lounge.

Blue is best