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...

Just wanted to wish a quick HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY to vickyandnorm. It's hard to believe that a year ago today we were all in Dinsey World and you guys were getting married.

Congratulations and many more to come!

Today was Magic Kingdom day.  We were up at around 7:30 AM and met for breakfast just after 8 AM.  One of the cool things Norm did was get us a 50% discount on all hotel food, so our meals were cheap.  So we ate a cheap, but yummy breakfast and then headed out to where the shuttle buses were to pick up a bus to the Magic Kingdom.  After some brief line confusion (but others, not us) we hopped on a bus and made it to the Magic Kingdom just in time to catch the end of the opening ceremonies.

The first thing we did was head over to Space Mountain.  Kelly and Vicky shopped while Norm and I waited in line to ride.  It was fun, but I was spoiled after riding the Rockin' Roller Coaster yesterday.  After the ride, we met up with the ladies and then headed to Buzz Lightyear, which is an interactive ride, and quite possibly one of Norm and Vicky's favorites.  After that, it was on to the Haunted Mansion, one of Kelly's favorite rides.  She could barely contain herself, walking over there.  There was really no line to speak of and we got right on the ride without a delay.  My favorite part of that ride is the singing statues.  Long time readers of this blog will recall that I suspected one of those statues followed me to an Orioles game back in the summer of 2006.

From the Haunted Mansion we made our way over to It's A Small World.  I can't remember the last time I'd been on that ride.  I spent most of the time taking pictures.  (Norm and Vicky were constantly talking about how they weren't taking enough pictures, so I was trying to make up for it.

Kelly wanted to go on the Snow White ride, and while we waited in line for that, Norm and Vicky went looking for hats.  Specifically, they were looking for the hand-embroidered mouse-ear hats.  Alas, as they found out, they stopped hand-embroidering the hats a month ago.  Norm seemed particularly annoyed by this.

We stayed in Fantasyland for a while, riding the Winnie the Pooh ride, and then took in Mickey's Philharmagic 3-D show, which was a good one.  I'd seen it once before last year.  While on that ride, I took what I thought was my funniest picture.  I attempted to take a picture of me being frightened by all of the scenery.  Norm, observing my attempt at a self-portrait, decided to interject himself into the pictures, with what I think is hilarious results 

Vicky needed some water after that ride, so we stopped briefly for some water and then used our Fast Passes for Peter Pan.  We were all getting pretty hungry and so we stopped to get some funnel cake after Peter Pan.  Kelly did a little bit of shopping.  I attempted to feed a friendly duck some funnel cake and got "yelled at" by a Disney employee.  (Norm says I got yelled at; I claim that he simply suggested that I didn't feed the duck.)  After a quick bathroom break, we headed over to Pirates.

Pirates of the Caribbean is one of Kelly's favorite rides.  I don't think the ride takes Fast Pass, but it wasn't very crowded at all.  We managed to zip through the extremely long queue that they have set up for it in no time.  I snapped a few more photos while we waited in the line.  I have to say, however, that I liked Pirates better before they modified it to better match the Johnny Depp movies.  It's still a fun ride, but it's just not quite the same.  Also, the Magic Kingdom version of the ride is somewhat different than the Disneyland version and I like the latter better.  But it was still fun.

After Pirates, we made our way over toward Big Thunder Mountain to get some Fast Passes for later.  We wandered around the park for a while, at some lunch, and took pictures in front of the castle.  Then Vicky and Kelly decided to do some more shopping while Norm and I went on Big Thunder Mountain.  It started raining on the way over there.  Big Thunder Mountain was, for some reason, probably the longest line we waited in.  The standby line was 70 minutes and the Fast Pass line probably took 10-15 minutes.  It was a fun, relaxing, and fortunately, most of the rain had stopped by the time the ride was over.  We wandered back through crowds of people, half of whom were caught out in the rain and had shuffled into various shops looking for Disney ponchos.  We met up with Kelly and Vicky and headed back to Tomorrowland. 

We needed a break so we rode the People Mover, which was relaxing.  Then we went to the Carousel of Progress.  I'd been on it last year and I took the opportunity to nap.  And nap I did, through the whole thing.

Norm had been prodding us for silly one-liners for the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor show.  Kelly and I had no one-liners, but we went to the show anyway.  Actually, it was pretty funny and pretty impressive how they make the animated hosts and comedians interact with the audience.  At one point they ask you to text jokes to a number.  Norm texted one on behalf of Vicky and hers was the first joke read by the comedian.  "This one is from Vicky from New York," he said.  The four of us were visibly pleased.

As the day wore on we rode the Jungle Cruise.  We also walked by an area near the castle where crowds had gathered to watch the Osmond's (all of them, I think) being filmed for something.  There they were, just a few yards away from us.  The park closed at 7 PM today because of a special event this evening, so sometime around 5 PM we started making our way out of the park.  We went through several shops and I got some chocolate fudge in one of them.  Then we left the park and caught the bus back to the hotel.  Norm had made reservations at a restaurant that I'd been too once before and really enjoyed--a buffet.  We decided to rest for a few hours before heading off to dinner.

Rest we did.  Kelly and I fell asleep almost at once, and when I woke up an hour or so later, I felt sick--nauseous.  I lay in bed shivering, certain I was going to be ill.  We told Norm and Vicky that we'd have to skip out on dinner (I felt terribly guilty for that).  More than likely, I was just dehydrated.  I drank a lot of water and the shivers passed and before I knew it, I felt completely better.  Eventually, I ate a hot dog and some fries (Kelly had eaten a bit earlier) and we invited Norm and Vicky to come to our room to hang out when they got back from dinner.  Norm brought beer with him and he and I drank through the six-pack while sitting around talking.  Vicky went to bed and we continued talking until about 1:30 AM.  We decided to meet for breakfast at 8:15 tomorrow morning.  The plan is to spend the day at Epcot.  Sickness aside, today was a really fun-filled day.

As it turned out, all travel arrangements worked out perfectly yesterday. Kelly and I got to Dulles, were through security in two minutes, and made our way to the Red Carpet Club. We had a couple of drinks there before catching our 9:35 PM flight to Orlando. Our flight was on time and arrived 5 minutes early. We met vickyandnorm almost as soon as we got off the tram to the main terminal. Norm went to the rental car desk to get the car and we headed out. We ended up with a bright blue car, roomy, but it sure stands out. We spent last night at a time-share property, a condo that was really nice. Full kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, dining room, living room, balcony. Our bedroom had a whirlpool tub in the room. But were were only there for a few hours. We went to bed sometime after 1:30 AM and were up at 7:30 this morning. We had a quick breakfast, checked out, and then headed to Disney's Animal Kingdom park.

The park opened at 9 AM and were there just a few minutes after it opened. The air was a little cool, but it warmed up quickly. We managed to pack in quite a bit. The first thing we did was the safari, which Kelly had never done before. Then we headed over to the Everest roller coaster ride, and Norm and I went on that while Kelly and Vicky waited. They actually saw us on the ride twice. It's a pretty cool roller coaster. It goes backwards, there's one good big drop, and some turns that probably reach 2-gees. We did more wandering and snacking and shopping. We caught a few shows. We had lunch. Eventually, we made our way back to Everest, and Norm and I rode it again, this time sitting in the front. Once again, the line was not long (we used Fast Pass). It was even more fun the second time around.

After that, we got some soft serve ice cream and headed for the park exit. Kelly lost her camera case, but it was a cheap one and no one was really upset by it. From the Animal Kingdom, we headed over to Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM) park. I'd never been there before. We got a wheelchair for Vicky (who is 5 months pregnant with twins) and who had done a great job on her feet for the first 4-5 hours of the day. Once we had that, I ran over to Star Tours to get FastPass tickets and then met up with everyone else. Vicky and Kelly decided to shop, while Norm and I hit the two big rides: Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Roller Coaster. The Tower of Terror was fun, kind of like Free Fall, but more random and more dropping. I estimated about 1/2-1 second of true free-fall. But the Rockin' Roller Coaster: Whoa!

The Rockin' Roller Coaster is touted as the fastest, wildest ride of all of the Disney Parks and it lived up to it's reputation. The ride "features" Aerosmith. When Norm and I got to the line, there was a 45 minute wait. We opted for the "singles" line and managed to get on the ride and get in the same car in 10 minutes. The ride itself was amazing, beginning with the initial 0-to-60 MPH boost in 2.8 seconds. There were loops and whirls and you name it--all in the dark like Space Mountain--only much faster. It was awesome! And best of all, they play Aerosmith while you zoom through the ride. strausmouse would love it!

After that we needed a rest and went to two shows. I slept through both. The first was only a few minutes long. The second was The Little Mermaid show. It was 17 minutes long and I slept soundly through the entire thing. By that time, it was dinner time. We had reservations at The Hollywood Brown Derby. The food there was excellent. We luxuriated through dinner, taking our time, talking, and really enjoying ourselves. Vicky and I had fillet mignon, Norm had duck and venison, and Kelly had salmon. It was terrific.

Finally, dinner was over and we made our way over to the "Hollywood Hills Amphitheater" for Fantasmic. This time, Vicky's wheelchair managed to get us good seats. We arrived about 30 minutes early, but it was already packed and so the good seats helped. The show itself was great, although much-changed since I last saw it at Disneyland back in the 90s. Once the show was over, it was 9 PM and we made our way out of the park and to the Dolphin resort, where we checked in. Norm and Vicky's room is right across the hall from ours, both facing east into the resort. Our rooms each have two balconies, very, very nice. The plan tomorrow is to hit the Magic Kingdom. It opens at 9 AM. We are meeting for breakfast just before 8 AM, so we should all sleep well tonight.

There were a number of amusing things that happened throughout the day, but I'm beat now. It was all I could do to write this all up before crashing. I'm getting in the shower and then heading off to bed. More tomorrow.

I mentioned over the weekend that vickyandnorm got Zeke and I a few gifts when we went to visit. Norm and Vicky got me a set of typewriter bookends that we once saw in a store and I love them. I took some pictures of them this evening.



They gave Zeke a cat condo, too, one that Charlotte refused to use for some reason. Zeke likes his new condo. Here it is:



Thanks again, Norm and Vicky!

[Written on November 12, 2007]

Kelly and I hit the road at 7 AM. The GPS predicted a 11:12 AM arrival in Stony Point at vickyandnorm's house. We were there at almost exactly 11 AM. Boy, making that drive with someone to talk to in the car makes a huge difference. The time flew by and what was ultimately 4 hours seemed like a mere 60 minutes. Kelly is an awesome driving companion!

( Come join the adventure )

I had a terrific day, Norm and Vicky are the consummate hosts. It was great to be able to hang out with everyone. I was lulled to sleep by the sound of Eric's snoring coming from the room next door.

I woke up this morning in the full throes of a cold, with all of the associated appurtenances. The NyQuil helped to mute some of them last night, but I didn't take it during the day. I struggled along through two meetings that I had to be in the office for, but now that they are over, I'm wrapping things up and going to try and head home soon.

I haven't done any writing today, but hope to get some done this evening. I'm jumping out of chronological order and writing scenes that I think will be fun to write first, giving my brain some time to work on the other scenes in the meantime.

Thanks go out to Linky Lisa (kruppenheimer) for texting me one of the funniest lines from last night's The Office--at 12:44 AM my time. I shouldn't complain. She was getting me back for the time I texted her very early in the morning, when I was at Stratford On Avon.

And I had an amusing iChat with the Vicky half of vickyandnorm this morning.

I got paid today, which means November is a 3-paycheck month. (It was that insight that made me decide to buy my new laptop this month because about 1-1/3 paychecks would have gone toward savings this month anyway.)

I'm not sure how I have failed to mention that Joe Torre is now that manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team I hated with a passion back when I lived in L.A. It will be interesting. If the Yankees don't make it to the playoffs this year but the Dodgers do, what does that say about Joe Torre is a manager. I think he's terrific and it's very difficult to see him managing for another team after 12 years with the Yankees. But I wish him the best of luck. (And there is a further rumor that Don Mattingly will be his bench coach.)

That's all. I ramble.

A happy 6 month anniversary goes out to vickyandnorm. I can't believe it was six months ago that you guys got married. Man, time flies!

Those of you who read this regularly will recognize vickyandnorm as fairly regular commenters. Feeling left out of the blogsphere, they have decided to start a blog of their own. Because they are both (a) more witty and (b) more terse than I am, you can be sure that their blog will be funnier and shorter than mine. They are good people, despite the fact that Vicky is a Mets fan, and you can be sure their blog will be entertaining. Check it out, when you've got a moment.

The food-fest continued this morning as Vicky made some excellent blueberry muffins. Maddie began to come out of her shell and was less shy and more playful this morning as well. After breakfast, I convinced Norm and Vicky that we should take a walk somewhere and Norm led us to what was supposed to be a nearby hiking trail, but what turned out to be some kind of dead-end utility road. On the way back, however, we found the entrance to The Long Trail and decided to hike it for a short distance (spraying ourselves with bug spray to avoid the myriad of insects that seemed to enjoy the oppressive heat and humidity).

We played a little more Scrabble and then Norm and Vicky prepared lunch and I helped--a little. Vicky made an excellent BBQ sauce, and hamburger patties. Norm grilled those patties, along with corn on the cob, and I helped by pouring olive oil on the patties, and adding some salt and pepper. My BBQing experience has thus been tripled. There was also bacon and the burgers with Vicky's BBQ sauce turned out to be excellent. So did the corn, which Norm had buttered and then grilled in the husks. It gave the corn and deep yellow--almost golden--color and it was delicious. Once again, I felt spoiled.

It started to rain just as we finished our lunch, which we ate sitting out on the deck in the backyard. And shortly after lunch, it was time for me to head home. It rained pretty steadily for at least half of the drive home and it was a long drive. Having left Norm and Vicky's at about 2:30 PM, I didn't get home until after 8 PM due to quite a bit of traffic on I-95.

Tomorrow, I go back to work. I'm getting up at 4:30 AM to head to the gym. After work tomorrow, I pick Zeke up from the vet.

Last night was my first night sleeping in the JRMBR (Jamie Rubin Memorial Bedroom) at vickyandnorm's new house and it was a very comfortable night indeed. There was even a sound machine that I could have used to listen to crickets, or the sound of the ocean, or white noise, but I didn't need any of that because the room was so comfortable.

( This LJ-CUT is sponsored by Norm and Vicky )

It was a great, relaxing day, and my last Saturday before I head back to work after having a month off.

I was up at about 7:15 AM this morning, in time to see strausmouse head off to work for a little while. I hung around the house with rmstraus and little Damian until Eric got back. We went for lunch along the Hudson River at a nice riverside cafe. There was a great breeze blowing and it was not too humid out either. After lunch, we headed back to Eric and Ryane's house and I got my picture taken with Damian. Then it was time for Damian to head to the doctor's office and time for me to make the drive down to Stony Point.

It took a little under 2 hours to make the drive and toward the end, I was going against traffic, which was kind of nice. vickyandnorm live on the edge of Harriman State Park, and the drive down Palisades Parkway was a nice one. I arrived at their house just before 5 PM to find their cars parked on the street--apparently, there was some work that still needed to be done to all of the curbs in the neighborhood, and their driveway still requires it's final surfacing as well.

And their street doesn't exist yet. At least, as they explained to me, they have to go to the post office to pick up their mail. Until their street shows up on some map, I guess it simply doesn't exist. I wonder if they could get away with temporarily being their own country?

It was nice to see the house completely finished and furnished and it looked great. In fact, I was jealous and I decided at once that I'd never be able to buy a house because I'd take one look at the places that I would be willing to pay for and picture Norm and Vicky's little kingdom and be disappointed with what I had. I got the full tour, of course, including the long awaited "Jamie Rubin Memorial Bedroom", which was done up in a beach motif, like the other "beach room" in the house.

At 6 PM, we headed out to the Palisades Mall in order to go to Tu Tu Tango for dinner, which is a kind of tapas joint. Very, very good, especially thanks to the spring roll recommendation by strausmouse. Vicky had gotten us tickets for the 9:30 PM showing of The Simpson's Movie. We finished our dinner with plenty of time to spare and so we wandered over to Coldstone for some ice cream. By the time we got in line for the movie, it was just being let into the theater.

The movie itself was hilarious and I really enjoyed it. I've only ever seen a handful of episodes of the cartoon, but I could imagine myself seeing more. It's the kind of movie which, when released on DVD, could be watched over and over again, with something new being discovered each time.

Tomorrow, we pick up Norm and Vicky's new kitten.

As promised, here are some pictures of the suite we stayed in at the Westin Excelsior in Rome, courtesy of vickyandnorm.

In case you don't know this, Norm is a High Panjandrum in the company that owns these hotels. When I booked my room, I booked a very nice room, but then Norm stepped in and worked his magic, transforming the room into this amazing suite for 24 hours. It was really incredible and it impressed my parents immensely. (I think they believe that Norm owns the company, despite my continued refrain that he is a mere High Panjandrum.)

Once again, thanks vickyandnorm! You made Rome so much more memorable.

P.S.: We ate dinner last night at Marcello's, a restaurant recommended by Norm and Vicky, just around the corner from the hotel. It was brilliant!

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.

Norm and Vicky moved into their new house this weekend (finally!) and from the tone of the email I got from Norm this morning, they are very excited about (as I would be, since it is a beautiful house, done exactly as they wanted it).

Congratulations, guys! I look forward to visiting, and staying in the Jamie Rubin Memorial Bedroom. :-)

I was up pretty early this morning. It was Norm and Vicky who managed to sleep in late--until almost 10 AM! I treated them to breakfast at Friendly's. We all had a craving for pancakes and I ordered their Lumberjack breakfast, worried that three pancakes would not be enough. It turned out that these pancakes were among the thickest, most dense pancakes I have ever seen. It was all I could do to eat half of what I was given.

Back at Norm and Vicky's we vegged for the remainder of the afternoon. We watched an episode of The Office and I brooded over when the best time to head home would be. I didn't want to be caught out in the worst of the weather, which was composed of heavy rain and winds. But neither did I want to get home too late. I compromised and decided to head home at 3 PM. Norm, meanwhile, was busy doing his taxes in an effort to make the Tuesday deadline.

I did leave at 3 PM, after a wonderful weekend with Norm and Vicky. It rained hard for the first 100 miles or so and the visibility was such that the few cars on the road were forced to drive at about 50 MPH. Never the less, the rain faded out the farther south I got and in fact, I got home at precisely 7:30 PM. If you count that fact that I didn't really get on the road until close to 3:30 PM (after gassing up the car and preparing for the drive) it took me about 4 hour and 15 minutes to go the 240.5 miles. Considering the poor conditions, I made excellent time.

At home, Zeke was glad to see me. I had some time to relax, do some laundry, and watch some TV, including The Sopranos and Entourage before heading off to bed.

I was up at about 7:30 Saturday morning and sat on the couch to read until Norm and Vicky got up. I heard their alarm go off at 8:30 and as soon as it went off, I could hear Vicky in a panic. She later explained that she forgot it was Saturday and thought she was going to be late for work. Norm seemed his usual morning self.

We waited for Norm's family to come over and then we headed up to Stony Point to walk through the new house, which except for the landscaping and back deck, is essentially finished. Inside the house, I was sure to take plenty of pictures.

After the house visit, we needed to get ready for the wedding, but first, Norm and I had to run some errands. We had to stop at Target for some VHS tape for Vicky's ancient video camera. We had to stop at Costco for some flowers, and to pick up the wedding cake. While, there, we also stopped to get something to eat: Costco hot dogs and a twisted churro. I was rather amusing to sit there eating our hot dogs, knowing that Norm and Vicky were only a few hours from getting married... again.

We cut it close; Norm and I had about 10 minutes or so to dress, but we made it with time to spare. Vicky was getting dressed at the church so she could dawdle. At the last minute, Norm decided to create some wedding programs and I got to help fold them. And then we were off to Norm and Vicky's church. We were the first ones there and, after Vicky had gotten dressed, she worried if anyone would show up. I tried to reassure her that they would all show up at once and, in fact, they did. Before things got started, I, acting as Norm's Best Man, and another one of their friends, acting as Vicky's Maid of Honor, had to sign some paperwork.

The ceremony started promptly at 1:30 PM and lasted about an hour. There were, perhaps 20 people in attendance and we had the whole place to ourselves. Norm's mom did all of the readings. Norm and Vicky picked out some wondering cantors for the service and I took some video of their singing at Norm and Vicky's request. Eventually, I made my way up front to stand up for Norm, and to give him the rings at the appropriate time. They said their vows, which they had rather impressively memorized (I was in the car as they practiced) and then they kissed--rather awkwardly because Vicky didn't think it was the kiss.

When it was all over, we caravaned over to the Allendale Bar & Grill where we had a whole room to ourselves, where we were served excellent food (the chicken parmasan was delicious) and where we had cake. I even managed to take a few pictures here too.

We relaxed in the evening; in fact, we sat around and were very lazy, but it was nice. Once again, I flooded Norm and Vicky with petty complaints about work and relationships and life in general, and as always, they bore up to it solidly and without complaint. Vicky tried to teach me the secret of life but I wouldn't listen. Norm spent an hour searching for an SNL video clip of the secret. Eventually, we went to rent a movie and late in the evening we sat around watching The Illusionist pausing it every five minutes so we could try and guess what had happened.

I went to bed trying to ignore the sounds coming from Norm and Vicky's room, which I later found out were the sounds of Norm being poked (or possibly poking) in an annoying fashion. They found this amusing for some reason. Certainly, it had to be a better wedding night than their last one, which was spent in the emergency room.

Friday the Thirteenth turned out to be a very nice day. I picked up my rental car after work and headed up to Nanuet, New York. I was given a Honda Accord, which was nice, but it took a while to do the paperwork because Hertz's computer systems were down. Regardless, I made very good time, driving the 240.5 miles in just over 4 hours.

In fact, I got to Norm and Vicky's before Norm was home from work and so Vicky got to listen to me whine and complain about my work woes. She was a very good sport about it and I should have learned my lesson (I don't often whine and complain about work) but I didn't; I whined and complained more when Norm got home. I got to see Norm's skydiving video which was incredible!

Yes, he went skydiving in New Zeland, a 12,000 foot jump. It decided me. The next time I have the opportunity, I'm going to do it. I mean, after all, if strausmouse can do it and Norm can do it, certainly I can do it!

We headed to the Cheesecake Factory at the Palisades Mall for dinner. Norm's mom, aunt and uncle met us there for dessert. While there, I got to hear all about Norm and Vicky's honeymoon in Bora Bora and New Zeland and I set there listening, green with envy. It was at dinner that Norm and I nearly came to blows over the check. I tried to outfox Norm for the check and managed to get my hands on it, after more than the usual effort. And then the villain outfoxed the fox and Norm paid for dinner despite the fact that I had the check. You can't trust anyone these days.

We all headed back to Norm and Vicky's place and watched more videos and saw more pictures from their honeymoon. Eventually, it was late enough where sleep was prudent, especially since we had to be up early the next morning.

I'm heading up to New York this weekend to see Norm and Vicky of vickyandnorm fame, now that they are back from their honeymoon. In a crazy coincidence, they are having their church wedding (convalidation ceremony) on Saturday so I will be there to attend that. This means that in the space of three weeks, I will have attended two of Norm and Vicky's weddings.

I'm driving up and although my car is running fine, it's getting up there in years (much as I am) and I'm growing more hesitant to take it on long drives. So I rented a nice car for the drive up to New York this weekend. And by "nice", I mean a car with a radio (which mine doesn't have), power locks and windows (which mine doesn't have), 6 cylinders (which mine doesn't have), and cruise control (which mine doesn't have).

It means that I will miss my first Oriole's game of the season, but they are playing the Kansas City Royals and I wasn't too enthusiastic about seeing Kansas City. Besides, the wife of a co-worker of mine is a Kansas City fan (go figure) and they may want the tickets. In any case, given the choice between the O's/Royals and seeing Norm and Vicky get married for a second time, I think I'd have to choose the latter. After all, the Oriole's and Royals play each other several times this season; Norm and Vicky have only gotten married twice so far.

If I am not mistaken, Norm and Vicky are due back from their honeymoon today. Welcome back, kids! I look forward to hearing all about it, and seeing lots of pictures from the wedding and the honeymoon!