A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY goes out to stubiebrother, who celebrates a milestone birthday today. Propriety prevents me from saying just how old Jason is turning. In any case:

Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!

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 caught the 5 PM Acela to NYC yesterday. I tried to upgrade us to first class with some free upgrade coupons I had, but since I had already used one discount (Kelly's ticket was a companion ticket) I couldn't do it. So we rode in the regular Acela Business Express class. We got comfortable seats in the "Quiet Car". Kelly napped for a little while and we chatted quietly for a while. Then I read. Kelly read for a while and also watched a few episodes of The Office on my iPhone.

We caught a cab to he11o_sunshine and stubiebrother's. The cabs in NYC now have TV and GPS in the back seat so that you can see where are. You can easily pay by credit card too. It was kind of neat. We got to Jen and Jason's place just after 8 PM.

For dinner, we headed down the block to Mustang's. I had the Mustang Burger, which hit the spot. Jen and Kelly had a couple of Margarita's each. Jason and I split a pitcher of Dos Equis (eliciting fond memories of the Mediterranean from this past summer) and each had a shot of Patron. It was a lot of fun.

We were up at about 8 AM this morning, had breakfast at the local diner, and plan on walking around the Reservoir in the Park, once everyone has finished their showering.

I took Kelly to breakfast at IHOP. Afterwards, we ran up to Michael's and PetSmart to do some errands.

I did a couple of loads of laundry.

I read Connie Willis' "All Seated on the Ground" in the December ASIMOV'S. I napped. I finished Connie Willis' novella.

I ran some more errands. I made dinner. I packed my lunch for tomorrow.

I nearly finished my holiday shopping (two more gifts to get).

I completed 6 of my holiday cards.

I spoke to Dad, he11o_sunshine and stubiebrother on the phone.

And now I'm off to bed so that I can get up at 4:20 AM for my Monday morning strength training workout.

I had a few items waiting for me in the mail when I got home from work last night. First, there was the book I ordered from Amazon over the weekend, The Year's Best Science Fiction, 24th Annual Collection (ed. Gardner Dozois). There was also a book from he11o_sunshine and stubiebrother on something like 50 different recipes for grilled cheese. It's a very cute book and will certainly add some variety to my grilled-cheese-preparation. Thanks guys!

I spent the evening working on revisions to my story. I'm hoping to send it off tomorrow or Saturday at the latest.

Paid a couple of bills, the electric bill and the gas bill, which topped $165 because I like to keep my house cozy and it's been cooler lately. But that's okay. I've been saving money by bringing my meals to work every day and I haven't spent a dime in the Mall downstairs in nearly 2 weeks now.

Yesterday, while the girls went to their fancy spa to get their fancy facials and whatever else people get in spas, the boy went scuba-diving.

Mom arranged it with a friend of hers who teaches scuba diving. Doug, stubiebrother and I headed to Thousand Oaks to the Sports Chalet, where at about 10 AM, we signed our lives away and proceeded to learn how to scuba dive in the 13 foot-deep pool that they had on site. The pool was kept very warm so that we didn't need wet suits.

We learned how to wear the gear. We learned how to clear out our masks. We learned how to breath through the regulator. We learned to different ways for clearing the regulator while underwater. We even learned how to recover the regulator underwater if we lost it. We learned some basic hand signals as well. Once we'd done a few practice runs, we headed for the deep end. We spent a total of about 40 minutes underwater, and might have spent a little longer if Doug hadn't come close to running out of air. (When we finally surfaced, me and Jason's tanks were at about the 1,000 PSI mark. Doug's was almost at 0 PSI.)

It was an interesting experience. For the first few minutes, I found myself much more conscious of my breathing than normal. I made sure to practice removing the regulator from my mouth, clearing it, and getting it back in. It was easy. We tossed around underwater frisbees. We swam through hoops. We laid down on the bottom of the pool (making sure to equalize the pressure in our ears). It was a lot of fun.

After it was all over, Doug, Jason and I headed to a nearby T.G.I. Friday's for lunch.

We spent the afternoon hanging around the house. Then, in the evening, we headed to Wood Ranch grill for dinner. Almost everyone had tri-tip and it was excellent! We celebrated Ruby's birthday after dinner, with a birthday cake from Coldstone, and a bunch of presents (Ruby turns 4 on December 1). By the time that was over, I was exhausted. Mom, Jen and Jason put on a movie but I was out cold. When I next woke up, the lights were out and everyone had done to sleep.

---

I head back home tonight. My flight departs LAX at 10:20 PM. I've used some more upgrade credits to upgrade to first class. The airplane is a 767 on the flight home so First Class may be a little bit nicer than on a 757. There are fires in Malibu, so we'll probably have to take the freeways to LAX this evening, and miss the pretty ride along the coast. I get into Dulles at 6 AM, and if everything goes well, I hope to be home (and in bed for a little while) at 7 AM.

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner last night. First, we had everyone over at Mom and Dad's: me, he110_sunshine, stubiebrother, Doug, Rachel, Ruby and Carson. This year was a non-traditional year for dinner. We had excellent crab legs, delicious prime rib, rice, and broccoli. There was plenty of food and it was all delicious. Doug and Rachel made dessert. We sipped drinks after dinner, it was a lot of fun.

I was exhausted soon after dinner, but we stayed up so that Mom, Jen and Jason could watch Gray's Anatomy. Jen, Jason and I slept on air mattresses down in the living room. Lights were out by 10:30 PM and I slept really well.

We were up at around 7:30 this morning. I was hungry as soon as I woke up. Mom made me chocolate chip pancakes. I ate 6 of them and they hit the spot. Doug, Jason and I head off to our Scuba lesson in about half an hour. Meanwhile, Jen and Rachel are going to their spa treatments soon. I think they are going shopping later. Today is black Friday. But if you ask me, you've got to be crazy to go shopping today.

[Written on November 13, 2007]

I was up early, 5 AM, and couldn't really sleep thereafter. Norm and Vicky had some early errands to run and so I was up to see them off and say goodbye. I'd said goodbye to them the night before, and I would say goodbye to them one more time, as they returned sooner than expected.

( A day in New York City )

After dinner (which Jen and Jason were kind enough to treat us to), we got back on the train and parted ways at 42nd street. Kelly and I headed up to our mini-suite (on the 23rd floor) to find still no champagne or strawberries (but that's okay because I had already reached my drinking limit). We did discover that The Wizard of Oz was on TV. It had already started but we watched some of it. I hadn't seen it in years and my memory of it was pretty fuzzy.

Yes, today is the two-year wedding anniversary of he11o_sunshine and stubiebrother and writing those words makes me realize just how quickly time is flying by. Two years already? Jen and Jason spent a romantic weekend in Mystic, Connecticut to celebrate their anniversary.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, GUYS!

Hope you had a great weekend, and a great day today. Looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks.

Posted at about 9:27 PM local time

When we last saw our Fearless Hero, he was about to kill a few hours after making his last post and before going to dinner. And so he did. I grabbed my book, ordered up an Ultimate Mai-Tai from one of the bars, and then headed out onto Deck 7, starboard side. It was quiet and warm outside and I quickly found a comfortably cushioned seat on which to relax. Drinking my Mai-tai, I tried to read my book, but the view of the islands in the harbor and the light blue water was pretty distracting, to say nothing of the approaching planes (of which I took several pictures). Eventually, I dozed off out there and by the time I woke up, it was nearly dinner time.

( Read all about it )

Tomorrow is a big day: Mom and Dad are having their vow-renewal ceremony at 5:45 PM. Just us, them and then Captain of the ship in the ship's chapel. We have reservations for a late dinner at the specialty restaurant, Sabatini's at 9:30 PM tomorrow as well. Jen and Jason have their couples massage; and of course, I have my sports massage first thing tomorrow morning.

Stay tuned, same bat time, same bat channel...

This morning, Jen, Jason and I headed to Plato's Diner for breakfast. I'd never been there before, although I'd past by it many times. After breakfast, we headed up to Baltimore for the ballgame.

Jen headed to the Inner Harbor and Jason and I went to the game. We stayed for 6 full innings before we had to leave so that I could take them to the bus stop in downtown Baltimore for their ride back to New York. Jen managed to get some shopping done for our big trip, which is only about 3 weeks away.

The Orioles were losing 3-1 to Colorado when we left the game. The ended up losing 6-1.

We were all up by about 8:30 AM and headed to IHOP for breakfast. After breakfast, we headed back to the house and then across the street to the park. Jason and I threw a ball around while Jen sat on a bench and read. It wasn't too long before my right arm was aching and I needed to call it quits.

We walked around the neighborhood and through the gardens at the Riversdale Mansion, and then finally back to the house, where we watched TV for a while, while Jen took a nap.

Eventually, we headed downtown to Austin Grill, and sat outside, having some drinks and appetizers. The weather was perfect, especially in the shade, with a very nice breeze blowing and we sat around for a while soaking it all up. We had 5:30 PM tickets to see Ocean's 13 and so after leaving the restaurant, we took a leisurely walk along the Mall, heading toward Foggy Bottom, and finally, Georgetown, where we saw the movie.

After the movie, we walked to the waterfront and eventually ended up a Sequoia, where we waited at the bar for about 45 minutes until our table was ready. We got an outdoor table, and had a leisurely, late dinner. I had the steak filet and it was delicious, as was the chocolate cake I had for dessert. By the time dinner was over, I think we were all pretty tired and we walked back to the Foggy Bottom metro station, and lucked out: we didn't have to wait long for either of the trains we took back home. It was a fun day, but a long one.

Jason left before 5 AM this morning to head to a NASCAR-thing that one of his client's was sponsoring. Still, Jen and I were up pretty early and headed out for a walk in the park. We stopped to watch a few innings of a little league game, and then meandered through the park until we reached the Boathouse Restaurant, where we stopped for brunch. As usual, the Boathouse brunch was delicious. I had the steak and eggs, and it was the first time I can recall ever ordering steak and eggs off of a menu.

We continued through the park, finally relaxing on a bench for a while. Jen had called Jon and Hollie to see if they were around and they called us back while we were sitting, and we headed over to their place to visit. I got to meet William for the first time, who is a very cute, extremely well-behaved baby. And I got to see their place now that their kitchen remodeling was complete. We spent a few hours there and then headed back across to the park toward home.

We decided to stop at Mustang, and sat outside next to a large street fair on Second Ave. We had some drinks, and went through plenty of appetizers and desserts, spending a couple of hours sitting, talking, people watching. It was a lot of fun.

Jason got home later in the evening and we headed to a local Italian place for dinner and by that time, I was pretty beat. We watched some TV after we got back to their place, but it wasn't long before we were getting ready for bed.

When I got to Jen and Jason's the apartment was already filled with the smell of cooking. Jen was making dinner and it was worth the wait (we watched the Yankees game while we waited. When dinner was served, it was delicious. he11o_sunshine will have to describe exactly what she did, but she made a pork dish of some kind with an outstanding sauce, and a spicy broccoli side, both of which had me digging for seconds.

For dessert, we took the train to Union Square and headed into Max Brenner's. If you've never been there before, and you love chocolate, then you must make a pilgrimage. Almost everything on the menu is chocolate (Jason even had a chocolate beer!) and delicious!

The evening air was almost Hawaiian in it's quality and we decided to see if we could walk from Union Square back to Jen and Jason's place on 85th, and only stopped because Jason has to get up very early in the morning and needed to go to bed.

I was up at 8 AM this morning, and headed to IHOP for breakfast. While there, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do this weekend. I had fun at happy hour last night, but had no plans this weekend. I wasn't in the writing mood, and didn't feel like going to see a movie. I put off any decisions until I got my haircut. When I got home, I called he110_sunshine and jkashlock and asked what they were doing. Not much today. So I decided to head up to the City.

I'm on the 2 PM Acela, so I have about an hour before I have to catch a taxi to Union Station. I've got a few things to take care of here and then I'm on my way. It's warm here and in New York, and I'm packing light, since I won't be gone for very long. But it should be fun. I called vickyandnorm to see what they were up to and to see if they might want to meander down into the City tomorrow and hang out for a while. They graciously agreed to talk about it and see if they could make it. Hopefully they can. I haven't seen them since their second wedding back in April and likely won't get to see them again until late July at the earliest.

Yesterday was a long day and today felt even longer. You already know that yesterday (Sunday) started at about 6 AM for me, when I headed to the gym for a light workout (arms and shoulders). Well, eventually, Jen and Jason got up and we all scrambled off to First Breakfast. I had a massive waffle with a hunk of whipped cream the size of a softball on it. After breakfast, we went back to the room, but with Doug still sound asleep, we figured we needed to be elsewhere.

( Las Vegas, Day 2 )

We packed a lot into a very short weekend trip, but Mom was surprised and it was a lot of fun. We'll all be back together (plus three) in a month to spend 7 times as much time together on the cruise through Italy and the Greek Islands.

[Written on May 27 and backdated to May 26]

Saturday was a long day! I was up at 5 AM because I couldn't sleep any longer. I packed up the remainder of my stuff and headed off to LAX to catch my plane to Las Vegas. There were no lines. I checked in at the Premier check-in counter, went through the premium security "line" (there was no one in line) and was at my gate 10 minutes after arriving at the airport.

I had some time to kill so I watched the season finale of Heroes which I hadn't seen yet, and which I thought was terrific! I made sure I was the first person on the plane because I didn't want to run into Mom and Dad, who were taking a flight about 2 hours after mine. Mom was still in the dark about the big surprise in Vegas. She thought I was flying home today.

The flight was short and uneventful. So short, in fact, that I couldn't complete the crossword puzzle in the magazine. When I got to the gate, I found that he11o_sunshine and jkashlock's flight was getting in early, so I walked over to their gate to meet them. We then headed to baggage claim so I could get my bag. We were also able to check into the hotel. All that was left was to wait for Doug.

His flight got in early but we couldn't find him and he wasn't answering his phone. Finally, at close to 11 AM, Jen spotted him wandering around upstairs. We found out that his phone was broken and he had been wandering around looking for us. We caught a taxi to the hotel, checked in, and then headed to another hotel for lunch so that we didn't run into Mom and Dad prematurely.

Finally, around 2 PM or so, Dad called and told us to meet him at the Bally's sports book. We walked over there (in the near 100 degree sun) and met him. He led us to where mom was sitting at video poker. He told her he had a surprise for her, while we all hung back. She closed her eyes as instructed and we all stood around her. Then she opened her eyes. From her reaction, I think she was pretty surprised!

Lots of activities the rest of the day. We had drinks at a bar in the Bellagio. Then we decided to go to the pool, which we did. I would be remiss to mention the fact that at one point, I was spirited away by a bunch of bachelorettes, as a part of a bachelorette party, which Doug and Jason would have no part in. I didn't mind. After, I went back to the hotel room to rest for a little while. At 6:30, we headed to Emeril's for dinner. More drinks. And excellent food. Doug and I shared some tuna steak tartare for an appetizer and I had--you guessed it--the copper river salmon for the main course.

After dinner people wanted to go gamble but I was beat. I headed back up to the room and went to sleep. I don't even remember Jen and Jason getting back. But I did hear Doug come in just before 3 AM. He had lots of beads and he said he'd lost $100 all told. It was a fun day.

I was up sometime around 7:30 AM when I noticed that the power was out in the house. (Ironic, because the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN article I had been reading was called "Preventing Blackouts" by Massoud Amin and Phillip F. Schewe (May 2007)) Jen said she'd heard a gunshot-like sound and I figured it was a transformer. Later in the morning, I heard some repair trucks and after about an hour, the power went back on.

We had breakfast at IHOP and then headed to Buddy Attick lake for a walk around the lake, which was very pleasant. It was a beautiful day out. Afterwards, we headed back to the house and Jen packed up her things and we headed downtown.

We took the Green line to Mt. Vernon Square and then walked over the M and 10th, where Jason was staying with his friends. They were cooking a big brunch (thus, one Sunday, two breakfasts). We spent a few hours there and it was fun. We listened to retro-80s music while eating omelettes and hash browns and bacon and drinking mimosas and bloody mary's.

At about 3 PM, Jen and Jason headed for their bus and I headed home. I spent much of the rest of the afternoon dividing my time between trying to finish up the May 2007 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN and napping. The remainder of the day ended up being equally lazy.

The last time someone was at my house was on September 12, when rubysnina was here to visit. Believe it or not, since then, while I have been visiting all over the place, no one else has been in my house in all that time!

That comes to an end this weekend when he11o_sunshine comes to visit. jkashlock will already be in the DC area for a birthday celebration. It will be nice to have guests for a change.

And these guests are followed next weekend by Dad, when he comes into town for his first Orioles game of the season.

I guess I need to think about getting the house in order.