ice, 8 miles, sledding, musicals, and falling down in NYC
The weekend was awesome. Friday night, Dana and I went to dinner with a group of Dana’s friends at Caffe Aldo Lamberti. The food was great, but all in all, Dana and I both agreed, we would have rather have eaten at a smaller BYOB Italian place like Tarantellas or Femmina (and probably spent less). The wine was good, the weather was horrible. 
Birthday morning, I woke up and accomplished one of my New Year’s Resolutions, I did an 8 mile run. It was very tough, but not because of the distance or hills. The ice was brutal on the shoulders of the roads. My knees and ankles are in bad shape now. But that felt incredible to accomplish that distance. It gives me a lot more confidence to be able to do the Broad Street Run.
After showering and catching my breath, we headed to Hopkins Field to do some sledding. We all took turns and the kids (and Dana and I) had a great time.
Sunday, Dana and I were treated to a Broadway show (we saw Spamalot) and lunch (at Hakata) in NYC with my parents. You always see something impressive in NYC, usually good and bad. Yesterday did not disappoint…
While making our way to the tickets line and parking, a cab was stopped in the middle of the road. There was a very pissed off latino man on a cell phone with a middle eastern guy trying to talk to him. The latino man shoved the middle eastern guy in the face, telling him, “Get the fuck away from me!” As we turned around the scene, two police officers came racing by. And then we saw the terrible part, a woman laying in front of the cab on the street, beginning to convulse as one police officer knelt at her head preparing to immobilize her head to avoid any movement and potential spinal damage. Seeing something like that, nevermind the fact that she was already getting care, just sticks with you. I hope that person is OK.
In addition to that, my mother tripped in a pothole filled with slush and icy water while crossing the street. She took a pretty good tumble, but thankfully, all she did was get a little cold and wet.
Crunk Rock Radio played my track “So Funky It Stinks” on episode #39 – Crunk Rock Mama and Suing Porn Stars.
- Vintage Toy Robots
- AFSCME – there’s a union out there busting their balls for you.
- The Great Global Warming Swindle
- The Bad News Map
March 19th, 2007 at 9:34 am
Belated happy birthday!!
March 19th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Congrats on the 8-mile run — that’s quite an accomplishment indeed. It looks like there were some fun hills along the way, too … yikes!
I’m glad you had fun sledding. That sounds like a good birthday. Sarah and I are the same way about restaurants, we almost always prefer going to less-expensive places and just enjoying time together … it’s about each other’s company, much more than the restauraunt.
I hope the lady in New York will be ok.
March 19th, 2007 at 10:35 am
I’m guessing the run was easier than the bike ride would have been? Sounds like an amazing weekend, despite the sobering moment with the woman on the street. How was Spamalot? I used to live in Spamtown, MN (where the Hormel plant is located…and the kill line for a lot of unfortunate pigs).
March 19th, 2007 at 11:15 am
I tend to agree with you on your restaurant philosophy. I spent years in the industry/scene in downtown Boston. So I’ve become kind of a food snob especially when I’m at a restaurant that wants to be something it’s not. Try getting a head chef that can cook and worry less about the decor might help!!!
As far as buying wine. It pains me to purchase a bottle of wine at a restaurant. They mark most of them up 300% and since I know the real cost of 99% of those wine lists. Ugh, I can’t justify holding my ankles everytime I buy a bottle of wine. Unless of course the Maitre Di is cute…
New York. Wonderful New York… Not a big fan. I’ve been there a thousand times. From everything from weddings, auditions, work, parties, plays, etc… I think the fact I hate the Yankees so much that subconsciously it has something to do with it.
Can’t wait to go sledding with the boy…
March 19th, 2007 at 11:23 am
I think I speak for all of us when I say, post more pics of your wife.
March 19th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Hey, that bad news map is bad news, but it’s pretty freaking cool…
Earthquake in Russia, a minor landslide on Papua New Guinea’s volcanic island of Manam, Seven pilot whales that came ashore on the Galapagos Islands died Sunday, and did I mention an earthquake in Russia…
I’m so putting this on my link list…
March 19th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
I did the muddy buddy race once and saw a man have a heart attack and die just steps ahead of me. It sticks in my head even now, and it was two years ago! Sad things like that just never leave your head. Hopefully the woman will be ok!
Happy Birthday! You and your wife look so happy together!
March 19th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Lots of things to comment on:
1) Belated Happy Birthday
2) I’ve found Aldo Lamberti to be good, but I’m with you on the smaller, more intimate places myself. I mean, come on – it’s Italian.
3) Spamalot – so, how was it? Worth paying out the nose to get tickets for Shari and I?
4) Accident – man, those things don’t leave you anytime soon. Sorry that you had to experience it.
5) Your Mom – good news that she’s okay; I know that had to be scary.
Sorry for the short-and-sweet; have to finish 6 more projects by the end of the day… and then VACATION. Woo-hoo!
March 19th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Oh, and nice shot of you two!
March 19th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Chris – thank ye
Apertome – the uneven surface of the icy shoulder were the tough part, in a weird way, the broken and jagged pieces of ice that refroze back together gave me traction with their unevenness, but when your foot isn’t really landing evenly consistently it really wears you down.
Jocelyn – the bike ride probably would have been impossible, although the roads were plowed fairly well, the shoulders were not. Spamalot was hilarious.
PapaDog – agreed, Olive Garden is the anti-christ. Sledding with your kids ranks up there with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, one timer goals, and sleeping with the windows open in the summer time as far as cosmic rightness is concerned.
Diesel – I know, I can’t believe that Jedi mind trick worked well enough to convince her to marry me.
tori – it’s amazing how fragile it all is and this serves as a reminded that I need to keep my own CPR/First Aid certification up to date. One day, that might happen right in front of me without police officers nearby
Marty – 1) Thanks, where’s my Chimay?
2) If there aren’t cooks arguing in Italian in the kitchen, it’s probably not a great restaurant
3) Really, really good. Go on Sunday and get the cheap tickets, usually 50% the usual wallet raping
4) Me too
5) She has a thing apparently for falling into icy water
March 19th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Dude, you crack me up!
Did you see my response to your comment from my template post?
March 19th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
PapaDog – I hadn’t seen the reply, but I’ve seen it now and I’ve replied to your reply in a most winsome fashion.
March 19th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
‘They say it’s your birthday…It’s my birthday too, yeah!’
Happy (Belated) Birthday.
We were driving to see a house this weekend and we passed a really, really awful accident on a rural road. The firemen were there using the jaws of life to get a trapped person out of the front; a shaken elderly woman, bleeding from the head, was still conscious in the back. In the ditch, an unrecognizable vehicle was upside down.
Dave immediately tried to distract Julia from looking out the window, as this was all going on on her side. But she was taken by the flashing lights, and commented on the firemen and the upside down car. I told her that we’d just passed a really bad accident, and what we needed to do was think good thoughts for the people driving in their cars, and hope that nobody got hurt.
And she told me that she had extra Dora bandaids to give them if they had too many boo-boo’s.
You don’t forget stuff like that.
Great shot of you and your wife; you clean up nicely.
March 19th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Sounds like you celebrated well.
Did you love spamalot? I’m so jealous.
March 19th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
You guys are just adorable…I gotta say, it is genuinely nice to see a happy family.
Lupa in NYC is a lovely, cozy restaurant.
March 20th, 2007 at 5:22 am
Good job on the 8 mile run. I got to have a little fun with that storm too when I was in NJ. It’s spring down here in Kentucky.
March 20th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Looking good. Sounds like a great weekend overall. We don’t get any appreciable amount of snow in my corner of Belgium and I so miss going sledding with the kiddos.
I got funky to your crunk rock–but I didn’t shake out any stink. ; )
Happy Birthday.