Kelly met me after work Friday at the Pentagon City Mall. We headed over to Champs to have a beer with Todd. We then had some errands to run before meeting AJ and Denisse for dinner. We decided to go over to Lebanese Taverna for dinner, and we ended up having a great meal. We caught up with AJ and Denisse, who we hadn't seen in a little while. AJ treated us to dinner. After, we headed to Maggie-Moo's for dessert. We wandered around the mall for a bit and finally, around 10 PM, headed home. We had a really nice evening.

Saturday began early for I was anxious to see everyone and wanted to get an early start. Kelly and I had gone to bed around midnight and I was up at 6:40 AM. I showered and then headed downstairs to sit on the couch and read until everyone else woke up. Kelly was up early too, and so we waited for vickyandnorm (Norm and Vicky) and kruppenheimer (Lisa) to awaken and get ready. It didn't take too long but it seemed as though it took forever. However, we were ready to go by 9 AM, which is what I was hoping for, and at that point, we hit the road.

( How's this for a great day... )

To be continued...

Kelly and I headed over to Denisse and AJ's last night where we gathered with some of their other friends for a Peruvian dinner that Denisse prepared. I can't remember the name of the dish, but it was terrific! Lots of mojitos and beer, as well as snacks and desserts. Good company, too. We got there a little after 6 PM and finally headed back to Kelly's around 11 PM.

After a good night's sleep, I left Kelly's at around 10 AM this morning. I got home remarkably quickly. My first task was cleaning up the place a bit. That took about an hour. Then I had work to do. I agreed to write some documentation for a beta-test we are conducting beginning this week, and I spent much of the afternoon on that, taking a break for lunch, and a bit of reading.

All told, I managed to write about 15 pages of documentation (a tad under 4,000 words) and I completed enough to be ready for tomorrow. But the day is done now, and it's already 7:30 which means it's nearly time for me to go to bed. I'm going to eat some dinner, make my lunch for tomorrow, and then hit the sack.

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon with AJ and Denisse. We went into Georgetown for a late lunch at an Indian food place. In fact, we got in just before they closed the kitchen, but the food was outstanding. We lingered over the meal for a while and the folks in the restaurant were patient, but eventually, they started to vacuum and we figured we should probably leave.

So we wandered up the street to Barnes & Noble and browsed through the book store for a little while. Eventually, we made our way back to the front of the store, looking for AJ and Denisse. They were by the magazine section, skimming magazines. Kelly and Denisse began commiserating and when I tried to get in on the action, Denisse shooed me away. "Go read a magazine," she said.

"I've read them all already," I said.

"Oh yeah, right," said Denisse. She glanced randomly at a shelf. And then she said, "So what's on page 39 of Q magazine."

I paused for a moment, thinking, and then replied, "An advertisement."

"Shut up," Denisse said, "prove it."

I walked over to the shelf with issues of Q magazine. I pulled off the top issue and turned to page 39.

It contained a full page ad.

It took Denisse several minutes to recover.

Although we went to bed really late, we were up by 9 AM and almost my first act of the New Year was to cook everyone breakfast. That's right: I made breakfast. I used the new Black and Decker grill-thing that he11o_sunshine and stubiebrother got me for the holidays to make pancakes. I also made scrambled eggs, including a batch of "egg whites" for A.J. We had juice and I had toast and a banana to go along with my breakfast. I think it came out pretty good. It was really the first time we tried to make anything for anyone other than ourselves.

We lazed around for a little while after breakfast and then decided to head up to the Arundel Mills outlet mall. We spent a few hours there, wandering in and out of various shops, with Denisse and Kelly doing most of the shopping. Late in the afternoon we stopped at Chili's for an early dinner. Then, stomachs full, people toting their packages, we headed home. I dropped A.J. and Denisse off at their house in Washington Circle. I then took Kelly back to her house. Then I headed home myself. I was back in the house by 7 PM.

Packed my lunch for got everything ready for work tomorrow, and I'm off to bed.!

I had to work today, but it was a relatively quiet day at work. We were let out at about 3 PM, but I waited around for Kelly. We picked up a few more items at the grocery store and then headed home. AJ and Denisse were coming over later in the evening.

I made a dip from a recipe that Vicky (of vickyandnorm) gave me. It was a dip she's made twice and that I really enjoyed. It came out alright, but it was more like a cheese spread than a dip. Still, people seemed to like it. I was hungry so I also made some macaroni and cheese while Kelly napped for a little while. After eating, it was my turn to nap for a while (I'd been up since 4:20 AM) I slept for about 45 minutes or so.

At 8:15, I headed over to the Metro station to pick up AJ and Denisse. We had ordered pizza, and by the time we got back home, the pizza was there. Denisse made guacamole and also a Peruvian drink that was quite good. We spent the rest of the evening, snacking, talking, listening to music, drinking, and watching TV. It was a lot of fun. We ran in the New Year watching the ball drop from Times Square, and toasting with Champagne. It was sometime around 2AM when we finally got to bed.

Having already attempting waffles, Kelly and I decided to make pancakes this morning. I had stopped at the grocery store last night to get he necessary ingredients and when we got up this morning, we headed into the kitchen to prepare them. We mixed the pancake mix, milk and egg (no oil--healthier) and made the actual pancakes. It was pretty easy and they came out good. Kelly likes hers thin, so I tried to guess how to make them thinner (we added more milk) and so we had a batch of about 12 pancakes, some thick and some thin. The last two or three came out nearly perfect in color and shape.

I had a handyman over at the house in the morning, doing some repairs above the front door, as well as cleaning out the gutters. It didn't take them long to get it all done. (The gutters in the back were frozen so he's going to come by next weekend to finish them up.) Once they left, we ran a few errands, and then headed to Kelly's place. We lazed around for much of the afternoon, but eventually, we set up and decorated her Christmas tree. We had A Christmas Carol muted on the TV while we worked, and were listening to a terrific "sessions" CD by Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington from back in 1961. When I was a kid, I thought of that kind of music as "adult" music, the kind of thing grown-ups listen to at dinner parties. It was great.

We left the house at 6:55 in order to be at AJ and Denisse's by 7:25 or so. We met them at their place and then headed out to dinner for AJ's birthday. We went to a nice seafood joint in Georgetown called The Sea Catch Restaurant. The service was a little slow, but the food was good. AJ's friend Jim joined us and we lingered over our meals, drinking, talking and having a great time. They brought AJ a slice of cake with a candle and we sang Happy Birthday. Kelly and I shared and excellent chocolate mousse for dessert.

Once dinner was over, it was late and we walked back to Foggy Bottom and then headed home.

If you've ever looked for something fun to do early on a Sunday morning, pop in an old movie. Kelly and I watched Going My Way (for which Bing Crosby won the Best Actor Oscar back in 1944) and it was terrific. I'd seen it before, but it was fun to watch on a fall-like Sunday morning.

Yesterday, after our breakfast adventures, we headed into Georgetown, found a place to park for the day, and then walked over to 37th and P where Todd, John, Matt and Jess were busy working on a documentary film. We watched them for a little while before walked back onto the main Georgetown strip. We stopped in at Gap, where I got a couple of new pairs of jeans and a new shirt. We stopped in at Banana Republic where Kelly did some shopping. Then we tossed our stuff in the car and walked over to AJ and Denisse's.

We had a late lunch with AJ and Denisse at Austin Grill. We then headed over to Gallery Place with the intention of bowling or seeing a movie. There was a 1-1/2 hour wait for a lane, and there were no movies that leapt out at us as "must-see", so we headed to Pentagon City to do more shopping. We went into Best Buy, and Costco (where we called kruppenheimer to wish her a happy birthday), and then headed over to the Pentagon City Mall and wandered through several departments in Macy's as well as other stores.

Around 7 PM, we headed back to Foggy Bottom and said our goodbyes to AJ and Denisse. The weather cooperated with us all day, and it was a perfect, fall-like Saturday.

My plan for the rest of the day is to maybe, just maybe, get some writing done. I'm embarrassingly far behind on the NaNoWriMo pace, but I'm not using that as an excuse to give up. I hope to make some decent progress today. My new pace, given what I have left to write is a hair over 3,000 words a day. Writing anything is better than nothing but I'll do my best to hit the target.

Yes, I realize that today was not the first Sunday this fall, but it felt like it. Even though it is already nearly the end of October, today was sunny, but cool and breezy and it actually felt like fall for a change.

The day began early, even thought sleep came late last night. The Marine Corp marathon took place today and we watched the runners pass by on Lee Highway, which had been blocked off in one direction for just that purpose. Thousands of runners went by. Thousands. It was really rather impressive. We see a lot about what terrible shape Americans are in, but here were a whole large bunch of people running 26.2 miles!

We called AJ and Denisse and asked if they wanted to meet for brunch. We met them around noon outside of their place, and then walked into Georgetown. We finally ended up at Sequoia where we got a table inside, although by a window, with a nice view of the river. When brunch was over, we spent the next several hours wandering through the shops of Georgetown. It was a lot of fun, actually. I even bought some new things. I got a new fall/spring jacket, as well as a couple of new shirts.

Eventually, we took a break and stopped into Hagaan Dazs for our Belgium Chocolate shakes (for AJ and I); Kelly and Denisse had sorbets. Then we headed into a mall that I didn't even know existed, and wandered about there for a while. It was after 4 PM when we finally left and it was just before 7 PM when I finally got home.

I had laundry to do, and so I took care of that while catching up on some items that TiVo had recorded. I noticed that TiVo had lost the network connection at home. This has happened once or twice. I made sure to reestablish that. It was also cool enough out to require the heat in the house. I guess fall is finally here!

I spoke with Mom briefly. Also talked briefly with Jen.

Early night tonight in order to get a good night's sleep.

[Posted on Monday, October 22]

Today, Kelly and I went up to Gettysburg with AJ and Denisse. We picked AJ and Denisse up from the P.G. Plaza metro station at about 10:30 AM and hit the road. The drive to Gettysburg took us about 90 minutes and it was a lot of fun. We passed through some farm land and of course, the leaves are now changing so we managed to catch glimpses of riotous colors (though probably not as nice as what people are seeing further north).

( We're off on the road to Gettysburg )

By that time it was 2 AM and we were all exhausted. I invited AJ and Denisse to stay the night so that they didn't have to rush to catch the last train home. It was a long day, but a really fun one.

I was supposed to go back to the convention for day 2 today, but I didn't. I got to bed late last night and I had a lot of errands and chores to do, so I decided to stay home. I stayed in bed late, watching episodes of The Shield, but eventually managed to get out of bed and shower. I got in touch with A.J. and Denisse and we agreed to meet for lunch. I headed down to their place at around noon and I was at there front door just after 1 PM.

We went to the Guard for lunch, where I managed to have a Monte Cristo sandwich. You don't see those in too many places, and I love those sandwiches and it was quite good, but truth be told, their fries were even better!

Afterward, we wandered around Georgetown, stopped in at Haagen Dazs for Belgium Chocolate shakes, and then walked down to the waterfront, where we debated politics and economy endlessly. We walked back to A.J. and Denisse's and shortly thereafter, I headed home.

I had lots of laundry to do and I managed to get through most of it, watching more episodes of The Shield in between loads. My ribs were acting up so I decided to take a pain medicine, even though they've been making me feel nauseous. This time it seemed to work a little bit better.

The annual rental property inspection of the house is tomorrow and I have to meet the inspector here at 5 PM. I have a presentation I'm giving at 3 PM but still hope to get out of work a little early to ensure that I get home in time to meet the inspector.

I left the house at noon and headed down to Washington Circle to meet A.J. and Denisse. When I got there, A.J. was not yet back from getting his hair cut and Denisse was in the shower, so I waited patiently out front, absorbed by Up From Dragons. A.J. arrive shortly thereafter, and we sat around chatting for a little while before heading off to the movies.

We saw The Bourne Ultimatum, which I had been looking forward to and by which I was not disappointed. It didn't exceed my expectations, but it certainly met them and that's all I hope to get out of my $8.50. It was fun and entertaining and even--for a wonder!--not too long. (Movies these days seem to go well beyond the 2 hour barrier, often unnecessarily. This was was 1:50 and just perfect at that.)

After the movie, we stopped briefly back at A.J. and Denisse's place so that I could get my book and also because A.J. wanted to show me a few scenes from the movie Kung Pow, which he had on DVD. They were, as kruppenheimer would say, "um, interesting". After that we headed over to Austin Grill. I was craving their chips and guacamole. We killed a few hours there, eating, drinking and talking and in general having a great time. A.J. and Denisse even insisted on picking up the check which was extremely generous of them. After dinner, we walked to the Mall, chatted for a little while, and then headed our separate ways home.

I'm anxious to get through more of Up From Dragons. In fact, I'm finding that a lot of what it talks about is useful in one of the stories I am (attempting) to write. I'm thinking that up next will be another attempt at Steven Pinker's book, How the Mind Works, in order to keep up the momentum on this fascinating topic. On the other hand, I received Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yesterday and I don't want to wait to long to read that as I have been wearing myself out to avoid hearing any spoilers about how the saga ends.

Today turned out to be busier than I expected. I was up at 8:00 AM and headed to IHOP for breakfast. I stopped to get some food for Zeke and then ran a number of other errands. I paid a few bills, mailed a out a copy of my new lease to my landlord, and compiled and sent my travel itinerary info to Norm and Vicky so that someone on the East Coast knows where I will be when I am away next month. I also picked up some new shorts and a hat from Old Navy.

Kent mentioned that they were going to be at Smithsonian today, but I didn't have his phone number. Working through Pam, however, I managed to get it and found out they were at the Air & Space museum. I headed down there and met them in the cafeteria and spent a couple of hours with then as they roamed through a few exhibits that they hadn't already seen, and then walked to the Washington Monument.

Afterward, I headed over to Austin Grill to meet up with A.J. and we spent perhaps 2 hours eating and catching up. It was good to see him.

In the evening, I went for a walk and did the loop twice instead of once because it was so nice out.

I got a copy of a letter from Barry to a the tree-trimming people letting them know what he wanted done in the yard. I don't know when they will be coming, but I'm looking forward to it because they bamboo is really getting overgrown and I haven't had the time to keep up with it.

More birthday wishes today. I got a call from Tawnya this morning. At work they put up happy birthday signs all around my office (although I'm not exactly sure how they found out it was my birthday). One of my meetings started today with one of my co-workers in Dallas wishing me a happy birthday.

I got this electronic card from Princess Cruises!

There was a phone message from AJ wishing me a happy birthday and a instant message from his wife, Denisse also wishing me a happy birthday. Oh, by the way, Happy Birthday, Denisse!. (We are "birthday twins.)

jen_ashlock called me at work to wish me a happy birthday. She had gotten back to New York on the red-eye last night and was sounding about as groggy as I was feeling at the time. And kruppenheimer (see, Lisa, I did that linky thing) sent me a gift certificate from Powell's Books, which happens to be my favorite used bookstore in the world!

Can I just say that I have the coolest friends!

Thank you to everyone who sent along birthday wishes today. It made for a great day!

We arrived at the reception, which started out as a kind of cocktail hour. We stood in a short line to sign the guest book and were amused by the text that was printed on the back of our little tickets (I can't find mine or I would reproduce it here for you. Suffice it to say it was very funny.) Once inside the small room, we found a table and Lisa quickly began consuming crab cakes. I can't remember what she was drinking, but I had a Corona. Andy and Mandy joined us shortly thereafter, and AJ showed up as well. It turned out that we would all be sitting at the same table, along with Ken and his wife and children.

After a time, bells were rung and we all proceeded into the banquet room and to our tables. It was a large banquet room with a good sized dance floor and about 8 or 9 tables. The DJ was stationed at one end of the room and Norm and Vicky's table was on a raised platform at the opposite end. There was an enormous wedding cake not far from our table. Disney music was being piped in and drinks were flowing from the bar.

Not long after everyone was seated, the big entries were made. Andy and Norm's sister, Julie entered, followed by Scott and Vicky's Maid of Honor, JJ. Finally, the DJ announced the new bride and groom, "Mr. and Mrs. Norm and Vicky Perreault!" and they entered to much fanfare, with Norm smiling and waving at the crowd like a seasoned politician. Immediately after entering, they made their first dance and I cannot for the life of me remember the song to which they danced (Lisa, can you help out!) Then they were seated and the toasts were made.

Scott, Norm's brother and best man made a funny toast, with several amusing stories about young Norm and a rousing encomium to Norm and Vicky and their happiness together. I honestly don't remember too much of what he said because I was finally getting nervous, which is unusual for me. When Scott was finished, the DJ announced that I would be making the next toast, and I pulled my notes out of my pocket, grabbed my glass of water, and made my way up to Norm and Vicky's table. I was told to take the microphone and stand behind the bride and groom on the dias and that I did.

I can't tell you exactly what I said. While I made notes, I spoke mostly off the cuff. I was unusually nervous because I really wanted to do a good job for Norm and Vicky and to be honest, I don't remember much of what I said. I do remember one thing said at the beginning however. Vicky had joking told Lisa and I at dinner on Wednesday that she wanted us to let people know that she and not the Disney people did most of the table decorations, the placecards, and favors. So when I got up to talk, I said, shortly after I started, "By the way, I just have to say, in case you don't know this, that just about everything you see on the table in front of you was done by Vicky." That got a round of applause and Vicky's jaw dropped. But I didn't stop there. I said, "She put a lot of hard work into this. Norm helped. I understand he built this entire place by hand just for this wedding." I do recall people laughed several times, hopefully at something funny I said and not at me. Never fear, however, for Lisa got my entire toast (which seemed to extend beyond the 3 or 4 minutes I had planned) on video and as soon as she gets it posted online somewhere, I will provide a link to it. I finished up with an old Irish toast that went something like, "May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and a smooth road all the way to your door...happily ever after." When I finished, Vicky turned to me to hug me and said, "You almost made me cry!" Almost! Darn it! I was aiming for tears!

The festivities proceeded. There was a five course meal. I can't remember what all five courses were (by this time, I'd had myself a rum punch, but that's not why I can't remember), but I do recall there being an excellent salad, and the intermezzo consisted of raspberry sherbet in a glass slipper made of ice. (Apparently they are famous for this.) For the main course I had a bacon-wrapped fillet. And, of course, there was cake for dessert.

There was dancing! And I was lucky enough to have the privilege of dancing with not one, not two, but three good-looking girls.

There may be some people, who, upon reading my last statement, take offense at my referring to three women as "girls" but it is not meant in anyway to be offensive. I've always thought of "women" as meaning females who are older than me. I've always thought of "girls" as females who are younger than me, or equal in age. It's just how I think of things inside my head and since I have been thinking this way for 35 years now, I'm not likely to change. But I mean no offense by it.

I got to dance with Lisa, who is a much better dancer than I am and who put up with my ambulatory awkwardness on the dance floor with grace. I got to dance next to Vicky who probably wasn't even paying attention, and that's a good thing, since dancing for me is an utterly humiliating process that I agree to do more for the enjoyment of others than myself. Finally, toward the end of the evening, I got to dance with Vicky's maid of honor, JJ. We were standing awkwardly on the dance floor and the music started playing "Last Dance" and she said to me, "Maybe we should dance or something instead of just standing there." I felt like a complete idiot for not asking her first, but I agreed at once and we danced to the last song of the evening. Once again, she was a far better dancer than I and I was simply outclassed the entire time I was on the dance floor. There are many things that I am good at and dancing is not among them. But I try.

And if you don't believe me, Lisa can probably vouch for the fact that I am a pretty awful dancer. She also has video of me dancing in a corner in an insanely silly and embarrassing manner, which she has threatened to blackmail me with unless I meet certain demands...

By this time, hours had passed and the festivities were coming to a close. I made sure that I signed the big picture of Norm and Vicky--and as usual, I signed without evening looking at the picture so I have no idea what I was actually signing. We were told to head for the buses which would take us into Epcot for ring-side seats to the Illuminations fireworks display. Lisa felt the need to get some last-minute photos of these enormous paintings and then we headed off for the buses.

We came into Epcot through the back way and were escorted into the park by Disney personnel. They brought us to a roped off area at the water's edge. There were tables and chair and desserts of all kind. Coffee and punch were also being served. Lisa spent most of the time acting as a surrogate mother to Ken's children, and seemingly enjoying it. The fireworks display was spectacular, as one might imagine. It was towards the end of the evening that Vicky began to feel sick. We figured it was nerves and stress and everything finally catching up to her, but it turned out to be something else. She and Norm ended up spending most of the night in the emergency room, although she was better in the morning and they were able to head off on their honeymoon.

We made our way back to the hotel, spent some time up in the room with Andy, Mandy, and AJ. Lisa provided the entertainment for Andy, Mandy, and AJ while I was doing something in the closet. As soon as I heard the laughing, I looked to see what was going on, but I'd already missed it. I'll tell you this, though: I've never seen Mandy laugh as hard as she was laughing. Andy said it was the best part of the evening.

We headed down to the hotel bar for a drink, and then Andy, Mandy and AJ headed back to their respective hotels and Lisa and I headed back upstairs. I was already beginning to feel sad that it was all over. We watched TV for a while, some Monty Python, and then turned out the lights and went to sleep.

It was an incredibly happy time, and one thing stuck with me through the entire evening. It was written on the inside of Norm and Vicky's wedding program:

Once in a while, in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale.

For Norm and Vicky, I can't think of a better way to describe it.

The bus dropped us off at the Disney Wedding Pavilion and we went in and took our seats in the third row on the right side of the pavilion sitting with Mandy Andy was in the wedding part, as was Scott. Walking in, there is a huge window at the far end of the building which perfectly frames the giant castle at the center of the Magic Kingdom. That was pretty cool. There was some light music playing as the guests arrived and the ceremony started right on time, at 2:30 on the dot.

What we found out afterward was that AJ's fears of catching the bus to the ceremony were not unfounded. For reasons we never discovered, the bus skipped AJ's resort and 16 or 17 people didn't get to the ceremony until we were about 15 minutes into it. But they did make it in time to see the bride and groom say their vows, place their rings and, of course, kiss.

Vicky looked radiant in her wedding dress, and Norm even managed to look pretty good in his getup. Norm was really hamming it up as he walked into the building, looking around in all directions, nodding and smiling at various people. Up on the stage, both Norm and Vicky occasionally nodded or winked at someone in the audience.

Several people got up to do readings during the ceremony, and Lisa was one of those people. She gave a very nice reading.

Throughout the ceremony, I wondered if Norm and Vicky would really attempt to pull off the little stunt that they had planned. I hoped that they would do it because it was so them. The reverend pronounced them husband and wife and said that Norm could kiss his bride. Norm and Vicky kissed.

Then they took a step back from one another, smiled, gave each other an excited high five, then turned to face the audience and did a posed thumbs-up. It was absolutely brilliant and I'm glad they did it!

They went off to get pictures taken. Meanwhile, the rest of us filed out and lined up along the sidewalk that led toward Norm and Vicky's escape limo. When they finally emerged from their photo shoot, they walked through the line as we all tossed flower petals at them. Then they were whisked away and the rest of us made for the buses which took us to where the celebration festivities would occur.

Norm, Andy, and Scott were going to use our hotel room to get ready for the wedding. A photographer and videographer would be on-hand to capture the fiasco. Norm was the first to arrive, and seemed in high spirits. He was followed closely by the videographer. Norm was on and off the phone working out logistics and since Andy and Scott hadn't arrived yet, the videographer headed downstairs to take exterior shots of the hotel.

Andy arrived shortly thereafter with Scott quick on his heels. I was hungry and so was everyone else, so we ordered up room service to the tune of 2 burgers, and 2 chicken sandwiches, plus sodas. The 30-minute order took only 45 minutes to be delivered. We didn't want to start getting dressed until we had eaten. Andy, who had planted himself on Lisa's bed, had the TV volume blasting and was watching Heat.

I should mention here that I practical joke that Lisa and I tried to pull seemed to go unnoticed by everyone. Lisa spent the entire morning at the pool and was absent from our dressing-room antics. However, prior to going down to the pool, we agreed on a plot, whereby Lisa made up her bed to look as though it hadn't been slept in. I left my bed a mess. No one noticed. At one point, Andy even made a joke that went something like, "Yeah, only if we came in here and found that Jamie's bed was made up and Lisa's wasn't" or something like that, and he still didn't notice what we had done. I thought at one point, Norm might have noticed, but he didn't say anything so our fun was spoiled!

One of the amusing things that took place at this time was when AJ called. AJ called me to see what we were up to and were he was supposed to catch his bus. He was concerned that the 2:05 pickup time was cutting it close to a wedding ceremony that started at 2:30. AJ can talk on the phone, so as a joke, I told him I wasn't sure of the answers to his questions and I gave the phone to Norm. Norm had a difficult time getting AJ off the phone and handed the phone back to me. At this point, Andy, who was still laying on Lisa's bed, looked at me shaking his head and waving his finger by his neck. I said to AJ, "I think Andy knows where you need to go," and handed the phone to Andy. Andy eventually handed the phone to Scott and Scott actually spent a good deal of time on the phone with AJ before he hung up. And that is the story of how AJ was passed around between three guys the early afternoon before Norm's wedding.

Finally we started to get dressed. This seemingly simple procedure gets more complicated when (a) no girls are around, (b) four guys are trying to dress in a tiny hotel room, (c) two additional camera people (for now the photographer had arrived) were moving about the room trying to capture the event for posterity. Also, we had to rush because we were behind schedule and Norm, Andy and Scott needed to be in the limo at 1 PM.

I helped Andy with his vest and Norm with his tie and I think several pictures were taken. Andy, for reasons known only to Satan, decided to change his clothes halfway in the closet. Good friend that I am, I called this to the attention of the photographer, who made sure to get pictures of a half-naked Andy standing in the closet trying to get dressed.

Norm handed out the various envelopes containing tips to Andy. He gave the rings to Scott. Andy, who had left the card that he and Mandy got for Norm and Vicky at home, decided to just hand Norm a check. When Norm would not accept just a bare check, I came to the rescue once more, suggesting that Andy put the check inside a hotel stationary envelop and drop it in the gift box that would be at the reception. Problem solved.

Eventually, we all finished dressing (even me). Andy did his hair, and then we were on our way. We got some good pictures standing by the elevators. I walked the boys to the limo, and then, in my full wedding costume, walked to the pool to collect Lisa, who had decided she'd rather stay at the pool than get dressed for the wedding.

But get dressed she did, and contrary to the popular belief that it takes a long time for women to get ready for anything, Lisa was ready to go on time and we were downstairs to meet the bus with time to spare. Once everyone was loaded on board, the bus made off for the Disney World wedding pavilion where Norm and Vicky were having their ceremony...

Some rest. We watched a couple of episodes of Friends, including, ironically, the Chandler/Monica wedding episode. It was nice to be able to relax for a while and stay off your feet. Eventually we had to get up and ready for the evening.

Lisa made dinner reservations at Spoodles, which servces a Mediterranean cuisine. It's an open kitchen which is kind of cool. Lisa and I shared a lamb kabob for an appetizer. I had a beef kabob for dinner and Lisa had a pasta dish which looked much better than what I got. We also shared creme brule for dessert.

After dinner we headed back down the boardwalk to Jellyrolls where we were meeting up with everyone else. Jellyrolls is a dueling piano bar where the crowd send requests to the piano players and then sings along. It was a smokey, but a lot of fun. We got there at about 10 PM. I got a text from Norm saying they'd be there at 10:30. Then another saying they'd be late. Norm and Vicky showed up sometime well after 11 PM. But AJ, Andy and a bunch of other people got there right around 11 PM. It was the first time I saw AJ since arriving, because he arrived earlier in the afternoon.

I sang quite a bit, and was worried that my voice would be gone the next day. But it really was fun. Lisa made a request for Norm and Vicky and announced they were getting married. The piano guys brought them up on stage and had them do some dancing and other stuff. It was funny.

I think we finally got out of there sometime after 1 AM, but I'm not sure exactly the time. Lisa and I walked back to the hotel (which was not far). I went to bed with the good feeling of knowing that I could actually sleep in the following morning because we didn't have to be up early to do anything.

I was up at about 8:30 AM and feeling pretty good. I slept well in the hotel room and the skies were bright and clear. I pulled open the shades and Jen and Jason were awake shortly thereafter. We met AJ and Denisse at the hotel restaurant, Olives, for breakfast and the breakfast was quite good. The only mishap--and the only mishap of the entire weekend--was that Denisse lost her cellphone at breakfast. More than likely she left it under a napkin that was cleared away.

We headed up to Jen and Jason's place and then to the park via 2nd Avenue. We stopped at Coldstone for shakes, but I was the only one who managed to get a shake because they ran out of milk. Several blocks later, however, we came to a Maggie Moos and everyone else got shakes there. We cut over to the park on 72nd and ended up by the Boathouse and then Bethesda statue. We were there for a while, and then wandered past the elms, heading for the south end of the park and then back toward the subway, where we finally split up, AJ and Denisse to head back to the hotel and then to the bus for the ride home, and Jen, Jason and I back to their place.

Back and Jen and Jason's I was feeling pretty sick and so I took some medicine and rested for about an hour and a half before heading off to the airport. I checked in and was at the gate about an hour before the flight, and boarded quickly once called. The flight departed a little late, but got into Dulles just after 9 PM. I was feeling terrible at this point. I retrieved my luggage, bought some Advil to take, and headed home. Once home, I sent a message to work saying that I was taking a sick day. Then I took some NyQuil and headed off to bed.

It was a fun weekend and I'm glad I made it through most of it feeling pretty well.

The eight of us (AJ, Denisse, Jen, Jason, Kevin, Vicky, Norm, and myself) all met the W at Union Square around 6:30 PM and after checking into our rooms, decided to head straight to the restaurant because the bar at the hotel was packed. So we packed into two taxis and off we went. We arrived outside Rockefeller Center at about the same time, took some photos and then headed to the elevator and up 65 floors to the restaurant itself. We had reservations for 8 PM, but since we wanted a window table, we agreed to wait a little longer. We headed for the bar and had drinks. I can't remember what everyone had, but I had the Planter's Punch, which I first discovered when I was at the Rainbow Room a year ago, and which I had not had since then. It was excellent!

We were seated about 40 minutes later and we did have a spectacular view of the city. We also had about the best service I have ever had at any restaurant I've ever visited. Our table captain was outstanding (and I was sure to give him a very good tip). Norm ordered a few bottles of wine for the table. Meanwhile, we sat around chatting and enjoying the view. The restaurant was crowded but it seemed like we were getting the full attention of our waiters and table captain. We ordered appetizers and then main courses. I had the grilled sirloin, which must have been in the neighborhood of 16 ounces and was excellent! When the meal was over, our table captain brought me a slice of chocolate cake and ice cream with a candle, and everyone else ordered dessert. All told, it was a terrific dinner, the more so because so many of my good friends were able to be there.

We must have left the restaurant at around 11:30 PM. The Rainbow Room proper was hosting a Bar Mitzvah and for those people attending, they were giving away half-dozen boxes of Crispy Creme donuts. It was either Jason or Norm (I can't remember) who walked up to the donut station and took a box of the donuts, as if they had attended the event. That was pretty funny too.

When we got outside, it was raining pretty hard out, and of course, we couldn't find a taxi. We tried for a while, but no luck. Finally, we found one and put the girls (and Norm) into it and they headed back to the hotel. The rest of us (me, Kevin, AJ, and Jason) made for the nearest subway and took the subway back to the hotel. We shared a drink at the hotel before calling it a night. It was a terrific evening, and it went by far too fast. I look forward to doing it again next year.

(I took a few pictures, which you can access on Flickr by clicking the image above.)