- Location: In my two-tone, manly, muffler-less, '65 Buick Special, somewhere in my stomping grounds of high school and/or possible college.
- Scene: Listening to a tape of Euro hits that I'd recorded during one of three recent trips to Germany.
- Memory: Listening to a power love-ballad from Bon Jovi that I'd heard and recorded in Europe. Just as the song climaxes, the tape hits the end of the side and I'm left wondering if he's wrong, if he's wrong, this ain't a love song :o)
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
A Memory Worth Preserving
As the tune started playing in iTunes, I was presented with a flashback:
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Evolution of a Blog
Today, I sat at work pondering important questions about life, i.e. if my undoubtedly disgruntled blog readers have indeed upgraded their Firefox to Version 3.0. I decided to do a quick check on my blog statistics, the hits of which were obviously depressing because of the lack of new content these days. But I did see that many people visiting my blog now are finding my site as a result of a Google search for a variety of subjects. I clicked on an old story that was the result of one person's search and read the blog of yore from 2005 and found myself pretty amused at the story and amazed that I had actually written something so witty and comprehensive. And it got me thinking on the elevator ride down and the bus ride home, what has changed? Is it the result of Tivo/DVR's proliferation into my household? The limited social life as a result of things like jaw surgery and leaving the center of the universe to move to a neighborhood that was uninspiring and where I didn't belong? Finally having a meaningful relationship with a girl? Or is it simply the evolution of a blog, the transition from something to record life's stories in into something to read and remember life's stories? Maybe it's a combination of all of the above. Clearly I can't blog as much about jet setting across the country for a weekend, a full weekend of debauchery, or about the nuances of being married, but there are plenty of new things I can talk about.
Last night we went down to see our free movie of the week, My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding. I thought back to when I saw it a few years back to see if I could somehow relate this to my experience in Peru but my memory of the movie was pretty bleak, like it is with most movies. But as we sat there watching it, I realized that there were many subtle things that Erika and I could relate to and we both cracked up about them. I asked her if she thought my parents would be like the "Miller" family in the movie - dry, boring gringos with little interest or knowledge about foreign cultures or customs. She said yes - and was very happy to learn back when she met them that my parents are nothing like them! After recently requesting RSVPs from my friends and family who initially planned to come to my wedding in Peru and realizing that very few are going to come afterall, I laugh when I think about the wedding scene in that movie where the bride's side of the church is packed with hundreds of people and the groom's side has about 10 people - that's totally going to be my wedding! (Side note-if you didn't get the RSVP request email and you want to come, you better email me because apparently I don't have your email address!) Anyway, we enjoyed the movie and had a nice little picnic on a beautiful night again.
Have you ever learned a foreign language on your own? I really need to get to work on my Spanish ASAP and am really getting bored with my Pimsleur speak and repeat lessons. Anyone ever used Rosetta Stone? I tried out their demo for Turkish and actually learned a few things in the five minutes I used it. I might have to give them a try, let me know if you've ever used it! I am using some of the Spanish I know at home and am learning new words from Erika, but they are mostly words that she says to me or about me, things like "susio" (dirty), "que asco" (disgusting), "tacaño" (stingy), etc. While these are valuable, I could use some expansion on my vocabulary and grammar ;o) .
J. Riley, doesn't anyone want to come visit us in New York other than some obscure Germans from the past?
Last night we went down to see our free movie of the week, My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding. I thought back to when I saw it a few years back to see if I could somehow relate this to my experience in Peru but my memory of the movie was pretty bleak, like it is with most movies. But as we sat there watching it, I realized that there were many subtle things that Erika and I could relate to and we both cracked up about them. I asked her if she thought my parents would be like the "Miller" family in the movie - dry, boring gringos with little interest or knowledge about foreign cultures or customs. She said yes - and was very happy to learn back when she met them that my parents are nothing like them! After recently requesting RSVPs from my friends and family who initially planned to come to my wedding in Peru and realizing that very few are going to come afterall, I laugh when I think about the wedding scene in that movie where the bride's side of the church is packed with hundreds of people and the groom's side has about 10 people - that's totally going to be my wedding! (Side note-if you didn't get the RSVP request email and you want to come, you better email me because apparently I don't have your email address!) Anyway, we enjoyed the movie and had a nice little picnic on a beautiful night again.
Have you ever learned a foreign language on your own? I really need to get to work on my Spanish ASAP and am really getting bored with my Pimsleur speak and repeat lessons. Anyone ever used Rosetta Stone? I tried out their demo for Turkish and actually learned a few things in the five minutes I used it. I might have to give them a try, let me know if you've ever used it! I am using some of the Spanish I know at home and am learning new words from Erika, but they are mostly words that she says to me or about me, things like "susio" (dirty), "que asco" (disgusting), "tacaño" (stingy), etc. While these are valuable, I could use some expansion on my vocabulary and grammar ;o) .
J. Riley, doesn't anyone want to come visit us in New York other than some obscure Germans from the past?
Monday, July 14, 2008
Free B's
It's summer-time in the city, which is a great time of the year for us - other than the weather. While I'm not technically in the city as much as I used to be, Erika and I have been taking advantage of all the free B's that are at our disposal both in our wonderful new community of Astoria as well as some in Manhattan.
- Big Muscles - As in things that I aspire to. We signed up for a local gym near our apartment a few weeks back, getting an amazing deal and paying less than $30 a month for a gym with a decent amount of spin classes and weight lifting equipment, as well as a four-week money-back guarantee that we would be satisfied calling this gym home for the next year. A day after signing up, Erika and I both found out why this gym was so cheap and had already decided to make all the required visits within four weeks to call it quits at this gym.
- Big Muscles - As in things that I aspire to. We signed up for a local gym near our apartment a few weeks back, getting an amazing deal and paying less than $30 a month for a gym with a decent amount of spin classes and weight lifting equipment, as well as a four-week money-back guarantee that we would be satisfied calling this gym home for the next year. A day after signing up, Erika and I both found out why this gym was so cheap and had already decided to make all the required visits within four weeks to call it quits at this gym.
First of all, from the first time we entered the place, I had already decided that I didn't like the sleezy manager there. He kept butting in on our membership salesman and repeating things that we had just been told. I just had a real bad feeling about the guy.
Second of all, we each had a free session with a physical trainer. You would think a gym with various physical trainers would have a revolutionary time-management tool called a "schedule" so that a new member could figure out what time slots are available for both themselves and the trainer. Not at Synergy! Their trainers just assume that you are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and tell you what time to come in, and then change the time during the same conversation because they don't know if they have someone already coming in at the same time. Terrible. And the free physical training session was really a 20 minute evaluation to see if I'm in shape (duh, I could have told him I'm not in shape) and then 40 minutes of trying to get you to sign up for unreasonably expensive sessions, claiming that he was so good that he didn't need new people to sign up and that paying for a wedding is not as important as looking good in the wedding. And bringing in sleezy manager to try to talk me into it.
Third, the classes. I pretty much only go to the gym for classes, especially the very motivational spin classes. The spin equipment at our new gym is from like the 80's and are horrible. To top that off, we had a huge, buff Eastern Euro spin teacher who was cussing and swearing from the minute he walked in about how he's too old to be teaching this class and not even willing to help new people adjust their bike. He was more impressed with checking himself out in the mirror than he was with making audible instructions during the class. Erika tried the belly dance class but said that it was worthless and she couldn't even break a sweat and didn't learn anything. I tried the Jui Jitsu class with all these experienced fighters and ended up with bruises all over my body - though the class itself was alright (if you know what you're doing, and I don't).
Fourth, this is a place for meat-heads. You may think this would be the perfect place for someone like me and my physique, but I actually don't really like going to gyms where everyone is huge and making me look weaker than I am.
Suffice to say that the four weeks will be free, because we're quittin' this gym big time as soon as possible.
- Big, Fat, Greek Wedding - As in the movie. We have free movies in various Astoria parks along the river during the week - weather permitting. Last week we got down to Astoria park and made a picnic and watched Happy Feet. This week is My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding, though last night's downpour may have been a bit too much to enjoy the grassy knoll that we sit on to watch the free movie.
- Bon Jovi - As in New Jersey and camel toes. Yes, we totally rocked a FREE Bon Jovi concert - in Central Park! D totally hooked Erika and me up with hard-to-get tickets to the free concert that was being put on as part of the baseball All-Star game festivities. And it was awesome!
It was great way to spend a Saturday night and I am totally going to download some Bon Jovi hits this week to relive the experience.
- Brazilian Martial Arts - As in Capoeira. We have free beginner Capoeira classes every Saturday afternoon at a park around the corner from our apartment. These are true beginner classes that are a great workout and are actually pretty fun. I hoping to someday have the strength and grace to perform some of the kicks we learn. But at least everyone is as bad as me! It's pretty fun though, and there's enough experienced fighters there to help me refine my technique.
- Burgers and Beer - As in totally free! One of my favorite restaurants in my new neighborhood celebrated their one-year birthday with a free burger and beer event. The place got rated the best new restaurant in Queens and they have great Asian/French food that we have sampled quite a bit - especially on their 2-for-$10 nights! Anyway, Erika and I got down there nice and early to get a seat and gorged away on our free dinner and beverages until about 8:30. While the place and the corner sidewalk outside were pretty packed, I can only imagine the mayhem and chaos that would exist if someone in Manhattan tried to pull the same stunt. It had a comfortable and friendly ambiance, just like most of the rest of our new neighborhood.
J. Riley, finally got a summer update in!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Do do do-do....Do do! do do....(You know, the wedding song)
Now that the European Cup is over and Liverpool's own Fernando Torres scored the winning goal for Spain, I can resume talking about the most important day in my life. Or something like that ;o).
After returning home to a house full of commotion with all the attendants getting ready for the ceremony, I finally found a freed up bathroom so that I could actually get ready. Of course, I wasn't worried about getting ready in time since I have plenty of experience getting ready for discos with Erika and I know I tend to get ready a few minutes faster. So I showered, shaved, and gelled down my hair. Turns out I was having a good hair day, probably cuz my hair just got cut 15 minutes prior :o). I put on my crisply ironed shirt (thanks Nana!), somehow managed to tie a perfect half-windsor, and then went out to mingle with the guests. And by "mingle", I mean drink two cups of wine in quick succession :o). I am man enough to say that I needed a drink to chill down these nerves - and finally lose the hangover from the previous night!
Erika finished up getting ready and looked more gorgeous than ever in her white dress that she - I mean "we" - bought in New York. If I can say myself, it really was the perfect dress for her, since it had a little "wedding" look to it, but was casual enough for our ceremony.
People were getting antsy, so we were ushered out the backdoor and walked right into the ceremony, following my niece, the shoeless flower girl, Ellie. I was feeling just fine with the wine at that point and was ready to get the show on. The musician for our wedding played a wonderful acoustic song that Roland picked out and that I recognized from my iPod playlist from a few years ago. Our family friend Frank did a great job with the ceremony, it was short, sweet, and succinct and we had a few funny points to interject with in order to loosen up the occassion enough. Summer read a surprising, sweet email from my sister who was in Africa to us and my mom also displayed enough courage to say some things to Erika and I - in Spanish!! Since meeting Erika and her family, my mom has put in some serious effort to learn some Spanish and it paid off at our wedding. Finally, the time came to exchange rings - at which point Frank pulled two candy ring pops from his pocket that we had given him just before the wedding. The precious metal versions will be procured and presented at our next wedding on February 14th, 2009. You're all coming, RIGHT?
So that was the ceremony in a nutshell. After this, we had a champagne toast with everyone using my parent's own wedding goblets, which was great. Someone who looked at the pictures of the wedding noted that the champagne we had was the kind that Tupac Shakur and all the other rappers sing about - obviously quality goods! We also nibbled on some snacks while out in the yard the catering staff quickly setup the dinner table to get the celebration really going. We had a wonderful, freshly cooked meal (with an amazing salad, I should add), not to mention a few bottles of wine floating around and refreshing and stiff mojitos perfected and concocted by my sister Summer and her friends. There was a lot of laughter and fun at the table, it was great. We followed that up with a moist guava cake from a cake shop in San Jose that Erika ended up tasting only when I stuffed it in her mouth!
Eventually, we started migrating inside the house because the weather was not cooperating and it was getting chilly outside. But the mojitos didn't stop there and the pictures we took inside tell the truth of the mood of the party. My sister-in-law Brie was the life of the party and I can't forget seeing my my clinging to the wall for dear life in order to stay upright :o). It was a great time!
And the best part is, my wedding was not a stressful blur! Obviously, not even a European Cup tournament can dim my memories of the perfect wedding!
J. Riley, thanks to everyone for making it great. Especially my mom and dad, who had everything planned, organized, and executed to a "T"!
After returning home to a house full of commotion with all the attendants getting ready for the ceremony, I finally found a freed up bathroom so that I could actually get ready. Of course, I wasn't worried about getting ready in time since I have plenty of experience getting ready for discos with Erika and I know I tend to get ready a few minutes faster. So I showered, shaved, and gelled down my hair. Turns out I was having a good hair day, probably cuz my hair just got cut 15 minutes prior :o). I put on my crisply ironed shirt (thanks Nana!), somehow managed to tie a perfect half-windsor, and then went out to mingle with the guests. And by "mingle", I mean drink two cups of wine in quick succession :o). I am man enough to say that I needed a drink to chill down these nerves - and finally lose the hangover from the previous night!
Erika finished up getting ready and looked more gorgeous than ever in her white dress that she - I mean "we" - bought in New York. If I can say myself, it really was the perfect dress for her, since it had a little "wedding" look to it, but was casual enough for our ceremony.
People were getting antsy, so we were ushered out the backdoor and walked right into the ceremony, following my niece, the shoeless flower girl, Ellie. I was feeling just fine with the wine at that point and was ready to get the show on. The musician for our wedding played a wonderful acoustic song that Roland picked out and that I recognized from my iPod playlist from a few years ago. Our family friend Frank did a great job with the ceremony, it was short, sweet, and succinct and we had a few funny points to interject with in order to loosen up the occassion enough. Summer read a surprising, sweet email from my sister who was in Africa to us and my mom also displayed enough courage to say some things to Erika and I - in Spanish!! Since meeting Erika and her family, my mom has put in some serious effort to learn some Spanish and it paid off at our wedding. Finally, the time came to exchange rings - at which point Frank pulled two candy ring pops from his pocket that we had given him just before the wedding. The precious metal versions will be procured and presented at our next wedding on February 14th, 2009. You're all coming, RIGHT?
So that was the ceremony in a nutshell. After this, we had a champagne toast with everyone using my parent's own wedding goblets, which was great. Someone who looked at the pictures of the wedding noted that the champagne we had was the kind that Tupac Shakur and all the other rappers sing about - obviously quality goods! We also nibbled on some snacks while out in the yard the catering staff quickly setup the dinner table to get the celebration really going. We had a wonderful, freshly cooked meal (with an amazing salad, I should add), not to mention a few bottles of wine floating around and refreshing and stiff mojitos perfected and concocted by my sister Summer and her friends. There was a lot of laughter and fun at the table, it was great. We followed that up with a moist guava cake from a cake shop in San Jose that Erika ended up tasting only when I stuffed it in her mouth!
Eventually, we started migrating inside the house because the weather was not cooperating and it was getting chilly outside. But the mojitos didn't stop there and the pictures we took inside tell the truth of the mood of the party. My sister-in-law Brie was the life of the party and I can't forget seeing my my clinging to the wall for dear life in order to stay upright :o). It was a great time!
And the best part is, my wedding was not a stressful blur! Obviously, not even a European Cup tournament can dim my memories of the perfect wedding!
J. Riley, thanks to everyone for making it great. Especially my mom and dad, who had everything planned, organized, and executed to a "T"!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Love and Marriage, Love and Marriage....
They go together like a horse and carriage. As do a few too many shots of jet-fuel grade tequila and a hangover, which I woke up with on my wedding day. As I contemplated the previous night that morning, and unsuccessfully tried to remember any part of the drive back to my house, I realized that maybe that wasn't the smartest thing to do since I now had bags under my eyes and barely looked awake. Oh well, there was plenty of time left in the day.
The crowd of guests for my wedding started arriving at our house in the morning. And by "crowd", I mean my grandparents who made the two hour drive down from Sacramento. As I started to think about the nights plans, I realized that this ceremony would be unusual for a wedding. In fact, I don't think I've ever even heard of a wedding that would be like mine, for this would be a "surprise" wedding. Like a surprise birthday, except it was a ceremony where you're dedicating your life to another person. But I honestly had NO idea what was in store for the night.
My mom had done all of the planning and had actually resisted any of my feeble attempts to understand the schedule of events of the night would be. I imagine that for most people, this might not be a concern. But I'm kind of a schedule-control freak, as anybody who has traveled with me can attest. I think that this Teutonic aspect of my character is why I have always gotten along so well with Germans throughout my life :o)! In any case, I was a *little* uncomfortable about not knowing what was going on, but I know my mom can organize a party as well as anyone and had been working tirelessly on organizing it, so I tried not to worry about it.
After lunch with Stefan, Roland & Csilla, Erika, and Graham, Erika and I went up to the winery where our "reverend" works so that we could actually, ironically, talk about what the plan was for the ceremony in two hours. Ok, as I write this, I'm thinking that maybe I'm not as much of a schedule-control freak as I at first thought. So he got to meet Erika, we got to talk about the night's plan, and my nerves started to get a tingling sensation for the first time. Not good! But I was okay after a few minutes and knew that if I don't have that sensation, then I wouldn't be taking it seriously!
We drove back down the hill and, in another wonderful display of being a schedule control freak, after picking up some things for the wedding, I decided that maybe I should get a trim on my hair with the wedding starting in like an hour. I got that done and then headed home so that I could shower, shave, put on my makeup, etc. etc.
We arrived at the house and it was a whirlwind. Somebody that my mom knew was there to present us with our wedding guest book, which was very nice and had a personal touch - even if I didn't know who this lady was! Interestingly, since we only have two bathrooms at my house, everyone was getting ready for the wedding except me and Erika - because all the bathrooms were occupied :) . That's cool, everyone else was dressed up and I'm walking around in my shorts and sandals still! But, eventually we got into the bathroom to get ready...
J. Riley, to be continued...tomorrow? Maybe, we'll see!
The crowd of guests for my wedding started arriving at our house in the morning. And by "crowd", I mean my grandparents who made the two hour drive down from Sacramento. As I started to think about the nights plans, I realized that this ceremony would be unusual for a wedding. In fact, I don't think I've ever even heard of a wedding that would be like mine, for this would be a "surprise" wedding. Like a surprise birthday, except it was a ceremony where you're dedicating your life to another person. But I honestly had NO idea what was in store for the night.
My mom had done all of the planning and had actually resisted any of my feeble attempts to understand the schedule of events of the night would be. I imagine that for most people, this might not be a concern. But I'm kind of a schedule-control freak, as anybody who has traveled with me can attest. I think that this Teutonic aspect of my character is why I have always gotten along so well with Germans throughout my life :o)! In any case, I was a *little* uncomfortable about not knowing what was going on, but I know my mom can organize a party as well as anyone and had been working tirelessly on organizing it, so I tried not to worry about it.
After lunch with Stefan, Roland & Csilla, Erika, and Graham, Erika and I went up to the winery where our "reverend" works so that we could actually, ironically, talk about what the plan was for the ceremony in two hours. Ok, as I write this, I'm thinking that maybe I'm not as much of a schedule-control freak as I at first thought. So he got to meet Erika, we got to talk about the night's plan, and my nerves started to get a tingling sensation for the first time. Not good! But I was okay after a few minutes and knew that if I don't have that sensation, then I wouldn't be taking it seriously!
We drove back down the hill and, in another wonderful display of being a schedule control freak, after picking up some things for the wedding, I decided that maybe I should get a trim on my hair with the wedding starting in like an hour. I got that done and then headed home so that I could shower, shave, put on my makeup, etc. etc.
We arrived at the house and it was a whirlwind. Somebody that my mom knew was there to present us with our wedding guest book, which was very nice and had a personal touch - even if I didn't know who this lady was! Interestingly, since we only have two bathrooms at my house, everyone was getting ready for the wedding except me and Erika - because all the bathrooms were occupied :) . That's cool, everyone else was dressed up and I'm walking around in my shorts and sandals still! But, eventually we got into the bathroom to get ready...
J. Riley, to be continued...tomorrow? Maybe, we'll see!
Monday, June 09, 2008
And another thing...
I had a second semi-bachelor party on Thursday night before the
wedding with Stefan and Roland, who didn't get to experience my
official bachelor party, and of course Erika got sent out with my
sister and Csilla. My bachelor party pretty much consisted of sitting
in one empty bar after another in downtown LG drinking "high quality"
tequila that was being ordered for me to drink. And also a Jack in a
Box super bacon-barbeque-lettuce-tomato-cheese-bacon-and-beef burger
(I think) that was only ordered for posterity's sake as the last time
I ordered anything from this particular JIAB was probably with the
same two guys I was out with that night. After some more tequila at
Stefan's house and a walk downtown, we met up with the girl's
bachelorette party at Mountain Charley's, one of the many (okay, the
only) sleezy/dance locations in LG. We had some fun there except that
Stefan royally screwed things up by mixing my drinks, causing an
embarrassing, undocumented situation that ended our nights.
wedding with Stefan and Roland, who didn't get to experience my
official bachelor party, and of course Erika got sent out with my
sister and Csilla. My bachelor party pretty much consisted of sitting
in one empty bar after another in downtown LG drinking "high quality"
tequila that was being ordered for me to drink. And also a Jack in a
Box super bacon-barbeque-lettuce-tomato-cheese-bacon-and-beef burger
(I think) that was only ordered for posterity's sake as the last time
I ordered anything from this particular JIAB was probably with the
same two guys I was out with that night. After some more tequila at
Stefan's house and a walk downtown, we met up with the girl's
bachelorette party at Mountain Charley's, one of the many (okay, the
only) sleezy/dance locations in LG. We had some fun there except that
Stefan royally screwed things up by mixing my drinks, causing an
embarrassing, undocumented situation that ended our nights.
J. Riley, Oh well, it wouldn't be a bachelor party without such an
incident, would it?
Friday, June 06, 2008
Mea Culpa....and Day 1
A few weeks back, I sat in my living room after work and thought to
myself, "How am I ever going to fill up all this free time I have now
that I have a 10 minute commute home from work?". In fact, I may have
even commented about this in my last blog, which in fact took place a
few weeks back. Well, I don't know how, but I have managed to fill up
my evening schedule with a variety of activities - and not all of it
is playing Mob Wars on Facebook :o/ . BTW, PLEASE join my mob, I'm in
desperate need for more people on my team even if you don't play!
myself, "How am I ever going to fill up all this free time I have now
that I have a 10 minute commute home from work?". In fact, I may have
even commented about this in my last blog, which in fact took place a
few weeks back. Well, I don't know how, but I have managed to fill up
my evening schedule with a variety of activities - and not all of it
is playing Mob Wars on Facebook :o/ . BTW, PLEASE join my mob, I'm in
desperate need for more people on my team even if you don't play!
So there are a few events I should mention that have happened in the
last few weeks, notably Friday, May 23rd. It was VERY nice to have my
mom organize and plan our wedding because it reduced the amount of
things that we needed to think about. But there were a few things that
we needed to do, notably find a shirt and tie for me to wear with my
suit. Because I wasn't in wedding planning mode, I didn't really think
much about it until the NIGHT BEFORE I LEFT! I flipped through my
closet and realized that I have nothing that fits well and is decent
to wear so I aptly used this as an excuse to check out some nice
shirts at Charles Tyrwhitt, only to find out that they had an awesome
sale going on for four shirts. So, with permission granted from the
boss, I resolved that issue.
The next and last detail to take care of was wedding vows. I had
previously tossed and turned ideas around in my head for these for the
past few weeks but had generally tried to block it out of my mind.
But, stepping on the plane Wednesday night, I knew it was something we
had to finalize so Erika and I sat in our cramped seats and morphed a
basic set of wedding vows (found online, of course) into something
that was both personal and palatable. Check, and now we were ready for
the flight.
Thursday morning, we woke up early to fresh bagels and took care of
the wedding license at the county office in San Jose. There was no
line there that early in the morning, which was nice because I had
visions of the DMV and the Social Security Administration in my head
when I thought about accomplishing anything with the government. So
with that complete, I was ready to start the tour de Northern
California with Erika, Roland, and Csilla (who were in town). First
Stop: San Francisco.
Anybody who's been to Cali knows that SF is great and is a must-see
location. We drove up there and checked out the Golden Gate Bridge,
took a million pictures of course, and then headed for the main
destination of the day - Alcatraz. I had been there about 20 years ago
so I didn't remember much and was looking forward to checking out the
site and the beautiful views.
Needless to say, this took up a big chunk of our day and by the time
we got back to the city, the day was pretty much done. But you can't
go to SF without riding the cable cars, so we hitched a ride on those
to Union Square, wandered around there for a bit, and then headed back
home - very late. So late that I ended up postponing our meeting with
our "minister" Frank until the DAY OF THE WEDDING! Talk about a
shotgun wedding this would be!
J. Riley, I need to get caught up before the European Cup starts
tomorrow afternoon! Or at least before Roland does!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Pictures With Commentary to Follow
What happened to all my free time? Anyway:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jhaines/JustinAndErikaSWedding
J. Riley, the lesser half
Monday, May 19, 2008
Too Much NOT to Write
Seriously, there's been so much going on lately, I haven't actually had the time to write about it all. But now, taking advantage of my newly-gained two hours of free time after work, I have decided to dedicate some of it to the old blog. I was actually reading this article about Jerry Seinfeld's productivity secrets and, while it may not be exactly appropriate for my blogging time, it did make me think about how I should be writing more regularly and the best way to schedule time for it.
So, with that wordy explanation out of the way, let's get into it. Erika spent a couple days dedicated to getting our apartment in order by building Ikea furniture and collaborating with me on where pictures should be hung so that this place could feel like home and it looks great now. By the time we had the place put together, Roland and Csilla arrived from Slovakia for his first homecoming trip since he left 11 years ago after living with me and my family in Los G.
The night prior to their arrival, we went out with Paul, Cathy, D, and Jeff, who was in town on business. I was just getting settled into a miserable cold and had worked from home that day so we didn't stay out too late but did stick around for the Australian/kangaroo dinner at Eight Mile Creek!
In true Roland fashion, he arrived the next evening around two hours late. He apparently neglected to write down my address thinking that he could boot up his laptop, connect to the free Wi-Fi that is available around the world and get my address from his Gmail. Well, Wi-Fi is free in many places, but New York is not one of them! But he did arrive on the correct day, so he's improving his travelling skills I suppose :o).
We went out in Astoria for a bite to eat before they started falling asleep on me, so we went home and I gave them the 20 minute introduction to New York and outlined my recommended itinerary for their first day in town - without me. The next day they headed out into the miserable rain alone because Erika was complaining about her back - she thought she hurt it putting the heavy futon together a few days back - and wanted to be in good shape for the marathon tours I would put on that weekend.
So the weekend arrived and we walked a LOT on Saturday, seeing the Villages, SoHo, NoLIta, Chinatown, the Municipal District, Brooklyn Bridge and ended up at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory in DUMBO in Brooklyn before heading out for a traditional American dinner at - gasp - Taco Bell. Oh, the things you miss when you leave America!
For Mother's Day, we decided on a picnic in the Park - Central Park. So we packed up the lunches in backpacks and hit the city for a quick introduction to the park before hunger pangs hit us and we found a serene patch of grass to call our own for the afternoon. Paul, Cathy, and Paul's parents showed up shortly thereafter to join us for my first picnic in Central Park. After lunch, the girls were taught how to throw an American football and then a competitive game of whiffle ball started with me trying to get the ball out of the "infield" and everyone else trying to crack the ball past the outfielder. The weather was Spring-like and cool but we all had a good time relaxing all day.
Monday night we went to a jazz show at Blue Note to hear a local band that totally reminded me of Erykah Badu - minus the crack ;o). We all enjoyed the dinner and show quite a bit and headed home from the village at about 10:00.
Erika was complaining more about her back, but I continued to assume/hope that it was just something from the heavy furniture because I dreaded taking her to a doctor since she has no insurance yet. That all went out the window at 4:00am that night however, when she woke up shaking with the chills from a fever and saying she could hardly move because her body was hurting so bad. The flu? Or something more? She took some Motrin and eventually fell asleep and was still sleeping when I went to work the next day. I told her I would come home at lunch to check on her and was totally distracted all morning thinking about what to do. I came home at lunch with a thermometer and, still in bed, she registered in at 102 degrees so I went next door to the family clinic and asked if they took walk-in patients.
I brought Erika over, huddled up in a scarf, shivering, unstable and suffering without being able to walk because of her back. After about 15 minutes of waiting in the waiting room, the staff said they need to see us fast because they could tell something was wrong with her. Thankfully, the doctor at the clinic spoke Spanish, which made everything easier for her to diagnose Erika. After taking her vitals and finding the painful spots, she said that she was going to call an ambulance because she was pretty sure that she had a bad kidney infection. This was not what I needed to hear, but it was what I knew in my heart was true. I had neglected the problem hoping it would go away and in the end it was the wrong decision and we were heading to the Emergency Room at the local hospital because of it.
They got her to the hospital (which was, ironically, less than a mile away), hooked her up to fluids, antibiotics, and pain killers, and we waited. We were at the hospital for about seven hours before her blood pressure was at the required limit (it took three bags of liquid) and they sent us home with a prescription for some more heavy-duty antibiotics. The pain-killers wore off that night and Erika's fever and pain came back, but she fought through it and ended up sleeping most of the whole next day after the emotional and physical pains from the previous days wore on her.
But the antibiotics did their trick and everyday she felt better until she was pretty much back to normal by Friday. This being her second kidney infection in a year, this is something that were going to have to see a doctor for - when she gets insurance! Through a friend of our's, we should be able to get Medicaid and our tax dollars to cover much of the cost of the day, which will prevent me from filing for bankruptcy ;o) !
It's a good thing she was better by Friday, because this meant that Saturday's scheduled event could take place. Believe it or not, Erika still partook in her bachelorette party generously put on by some of our friends! Without needing to divulge much information, let's just say that Melissa has organized more than a few of these in Manhattan and the girls went to town and gave her the full send-off of bachelorettehood (is that a word?).
While she was out, Paul thought it would be inappropriate for them to have a party for her without having one for me, so we headed out with Melissa's boyfriend Jonathon to New York City's finest....paintball center for a night of bruising, pain, mask-donning , and all-out-war against strangers. I hadn't done this before, but it was damn fun - but painful. I have about a dozen bruises across my body which isn't bad considering we were there for about three hours and took part in two Ironman Contests, during which you shoot each other as many times as you want until you a.) run out of paintballs, b.) run out of compressed air, or c.) can't stand the pain anymore. Both sessions ended with me shaking my head with teeth clenched as my body fought the pain of getting nailed all over the place. Not fun, but a LOT of fun :o)! I would do it again, for sure!
J. Riley, and now we prepare for Friday night's main event, followed by Saturday's party during which I hope to introduce most of my readers to my wife! I don't think that's how it's usually done, but that's how I roll!
So, with that wordy explanation out of the way, let's get into it. Erika spent a couple days dedicated to getting our apartment in order by building Ikea furniture and collaborating with me on where pictures should be hung so that this place could feel like home and it looks great now. By the time we had the place put together, Roland and Csilla arrived from Slovakia for his first homecoming trip since he left 11 years ago after living with me and my family in Los G.
The night prior to their arrival, we went out with Paul, Cathy, D, and Jeff, who was in town on business. I was just getting settled into a miserable cold and had worked from home that day so we didn't stay out too late but did stick around for the Australian/kangaroo dinner at Eight Mile Creek!
In true Roland fashion, he arrived the next evening around two hours late. He apparently neglected to write down my address thinking that he could boot up his laptop, connect to the free Wi-Fi that is available around the world and get my address from his Gmail. Well, Wi-Fi is free in many places, but New York is not one of them! But he did arrive on the correct day, so he's improving his travelling skills I suppose :o).
We went out in Astoria for a bite to eat before they started falling asleep on me, so we went home and I gave them the 20 minute introduction to New York and outlined my recommended itinerary for their first day in town - without me. The next day they headed out into the miserable rain alone because Erika was complaining about her back - she thought she hurt it putting the heavy futon together a few days back - and wanted to be in good shape for the marathon tours I would put on that weekend.
So the weekend arrived and we walked a LOT on Saturday, seeing the Villages, SoHo, NoLIta, Chinatown, the Municipal District, Brooklyn Bridge and ended up at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory in DUMBO in Brooklyn before heading out for a traditional American dinner at - gasp - Taco Bell. Oh, the things you miss when you leave America!
For Mother's Day, we decided on a picnic in the Park - Central Park. So we packed up the lunches in backpacks and hit the city for a quick introduction to the park before hunger pangs hit us and we found a serene patch of grass to call our own for the afternoon. Paul, Cathy, and Paul's parents showed up shortly thereafter to join us for my first picnic in Central Park. After lunch, the girls were taught how to throw an American football and then a competitive game of whiffle ball started with me trying to get the ball out of the "infield" and everyone else trying to crack the ball past the outfielder. The weather was Spring-like and cool but we all had a good time relaxing all day.
Monday night we went to a jazz show at Blue Note to hear a local band that totally reminded me of Erykah Badu - minus the crack ;o). We all enjoyed the dinner and show quite a bit and headed home from the village at about 10:00.
Erika was complaining more about her back, but I continued to assume/hope that it was just something from the heavy furniture because I dreaded taking her to a doctor since she has no insurance yet. That all went out the window at 4:00am that night however, when she woke up shaking with the chills from a fever and saying she could hardly move because her body was hurting so bad. The flu? Or something more? She took some Motrin and eventually fell asleep and was still sleeping when I went to work the next day. I told her I would come home at lunch to check on her and was totally distracted all morning thinking about what to do. I came home at lunch with a thermometer and, still in bed, she registered in at 102 degrees so I went next door to the family clinic and asked if they took walk-in patients.
I brought Erika over, huddled up in a scarf, shivering, unstable and suffering without being able to walk because of her back. After about 15 minutes of waiting in the waiting room, the staff said they need to see us fast because they could tell something was wrong with her. Thankfully, the doctor at the clinic spoke Spanish, which made everything easier for her to diagnose Erika. After taking her vitals and finding the painful spots, she said that she was going to call an ambulance because she was pretty sure that she had a bad kidney infection. This was not what I needed to hear, but it was what I knew in my heart was true. I had neglected the problem hoping it would go away and in the end it was the wrong decision and we were heading to the Emergency Room at the local hospital because of it.
They got her to the hospital (which was, ironically, less than a mile away), hooked her up to fluids, antibiotics, and pain killers, and we waited. We were at the hospital for about seven hours before her blood pressure was at the required limit (it took three bags of liquid) and they sent us home with a prescription for some more heavy-duty antibiotics. The pain-killers wore off that night and Erika's fever and pain came back, but she fought through it and ended up sleeping most of the whole next day after the emotional and physical pains from the previous days wore on her.
But the antibiotics did their trick and everyday she felt better until she was pretty much back to normal by Friday. This being her second kidney infection in a year, this is something that were going to have to see a doctor for - when she gets insurance! Through a friend of our's, we should be able to get Medicaid and our tax dollars to cover much of the cost of the day, which will prevent me from filing for bankruptcy ;o) !
It's a good thing she was better by Friday, because this meant that Saturday's scheduled event could take place. Believe it or not, Erika still partook in her bachelorette party generously put on by some of our friends! Without needing to divulge much information, let's just say that Melissa has organized more than a few of these in Manhattan and the girls went to town and gave her the full send-off of bachelorettehood (is that a word?).
While she was out, Paul thought it would be inappropriate for them to have a party for her without having one for me, so we headed out with Melissa's boyfriend Jonathon to New York City's finest....paintball center for a night of bruising, pain, mask-donning , and all-out-war against strangers. I hadn't done this before, but it was damn fun - but painful. I have about a dozen bruises across my body which isn't bad considering we were there for about three hours and took part in two Ironman Contests, during which you shoot each other as many times as you want until you a.) run out of paintballs, b.) run out of compressed air, or c.) can't stand the pain anymore. Both sessions ended with me shaking my head with teeth clenched as my body fought the pain of getting nailed all over the place. Not fun, but a LOT of fun :o)! I would do it again, for sure!
J. Riley, and now we prepare for Friday night's main event, followed by Saturday's party during which I hope to introduce most of my readers to my wife! I don't think that's how it's usually done, but that's how I roll!
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Apartment Pictures
J. Riley, random pictures taken with Roland's new camera that I'm testing out. Is that someone sleeping on the futon? Yes, it is ;o)
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