Snowboarding!

Now that I'm the proud owner of a new Ride Solace women's snowboard (pictured here on the right) I was grateful for the opportunity to put it to use up in Killington Vermont this past weekend. Matt, Roy, Pat, Michelle Eric and I departed Queens on Friday night and headed for Vermont for a good weekend on the slopes.

We were pretty psyched, Vermont was expecting snow, so it seemed like a good weekend to go. When we arrived at the hotel, the first thing we did was put on the TV, and we left it on the Killington "get psyched about snowboarding/skiing channel" (trademark Eric) which is basically looping musical montages of people doing cool tricks with snowboards and skiis and big jumps and wipeouts.

To the slopes! I'm still learning so while the others headed up the lifts at Snowshed, I headed for the bunny hill. Here's what my snowboarding experience was like:

I spent most of the two days alone on the bunny slope, trudging up the hill again and again, strapping up, wobbling a bit as a stood up, surveying the mountain with a satisfied smile, and then gingerly leaning forward on the board, pointing it downwards. And I glide, picking up speed. At this point, one of three things would happen. One, I would lean back and successfully slow the board to a stop, and then move back into forward gliding. Two, I would pick up too much speed, try to stop and end up falling because I'm not good at stopping yet. Three, I would be turning the board left and right in a "falling leaf" motion, then spin around backwards, really panic and end up doing some kind of a somersault. Ow. But I was getting better by the end of day one, and experimenting with more speed and a bit of a bigger hill on Day two. Feeling like I improved was huge, and I'm getting closer to being ready for the lift.

And of course, when we weren't snowboarding, we were laughing and being silly. Here are some of the quotes from this weekend:

That's fast math!

The gas is on the right! No, the brake is on the left!

Your bed is a racecar! I know, but I'll just fall asleep faster.

Lord Helmet! Lonestar!

Wait, I thought you said... (missed communications galore!)

Looks like someone decided to grow a pair of balls and speed up!

There's nothing like a good game of jenga with the firewood...

I'm going to have some pictures for you guys, soon, I promise. I'll post them when I get them developed. And thanks guys for such a fun weekend!

Two Strangers and a Wedding

While the rest of your are all listening to Howard on your brand spanking new Sirius radios, in the mornings I'm listening to my favorite a.m. show - Scott and Todd and PLJ - 95.5. Yesterday they had an interesting thing - two strangers and a wedding. They got two strangers who were looking for love, planned a wedding, invited all their friends and family, and then had these two get married - without ever having met. The first time bride and groom saw each other was when she walked down the aisle. (You can see pics on plj's website at www.plj.com).

Normally I hate this kind of reality TV (or in this case, radio) - marrying a stranger you don't know kind of crap - but this one sort of intrigued me - because this station isn't usually into stunts that are stupid - they do go for the laughs, but mostly try to keep things real.

So I'm wondering - what do you all think of this? Can two strangers that get married as part of a publicity stunt find real happiness?

Allentown

Thank God for three day weekends. I spent my President's Day weekend visiting Beth in Allentown, and as usual had a great time. Here is a brief summary of everything we did from Saturday to Monday:

Quick stop at the Good-Buy Girls - our favorite consignment store where we always manage to find clothes (almost new and vintage) for super great deals. I get a sexy top and some charcoal courderoy pants for $20. Score!

Drive over to Bethlehem to Tortilla Flats where we meet Ingrid for dinner (she's home visiting her parents). The three girls haven't been together since December of 2004, so we're having fun catching up. And we get sung to by the mariachi singer a couple of times. And we drink yummy margaritas!

We bid Ingrid good-bye and head towards Emmaus to pick up Beth's friend Amy. Then we head to Seiholtzville (try and say that three times fast) to see some bluegrass music in a local firehouse. Sidenote - Beth was trying to find out what time this show started, and called a number she found on an old web site. A woman answered and it turns out it was a wrong number, but she was the fire chief's brother, so she said she thought there might be music. So then the woman actually called Beth back twice, and left her messages about what time the show was. HA!

At the Bluegrass show - almost everyone is over sixty. Beth makes friends with a three year old named Marshall at intermission - he looks like a very little version of Ron Weasley. Cute! And when the band goes back on, a little blond boy named Trent (who's grandpa is in the band) plays his own little red guitar (or Milli Vanilli's it at least) and sings along to the songs he knows, right up on stage. Awesome!

After the show, we go to a local bar called the summit for a drink. There's a band playing there that's almost too weird to describe. But they had a drunken member (or groupie) whose soul purpose seemd to be playing a train whistle at the end of songs. And the lead singer had a white shoelace tied around his head. And a white shirt with bears. And a big fringy belt. And Amy said there were too many things wrong with him to even comment. When we've had enough, we drop off Amy and head home for the night.

Beth and I head out for bagels and go to the mall. We shop, get Beth some new outfits and me some new jewelry. Then to a crafty store where they sell this homemade shower scrub that we like. Yay!

Back to Beth's, where we chill out for a bit and start watching Muppet Show episodes. Beth's new boy Sean comes over and watches with us. Manamana!

Out to dinner to one of those chainy restaurants - Red Robin. It's Sunday and there's not much open and we're trying to make a movie.

The movie is Eight Below - about the sled dogs. It's actually good and interesting and sad and touching. I enjoyed it.

Home again, and to bed again.

Monday - breakfast in the house and getting a late start because we were lazy. Then to the craft store - Sean buys some frames to fram the SI covers of the Super Bowl victory for the Steelers for friends of his. A pit stop to look at puppies.

Then at my request we hit the ski shop, and there's a pretty good sale so I buy a snowboard and boots and bindings!

I AM GOING TO BE A SNOWBOARDER! HA!

So there you have it folks. That's basically what I do when I go to Allentown. Thanks as always for a fun time Beth!

Bruce Willis on Access Hollywood

So Bruce got to talking about Oprah and he brought up the whole James Frey "Million Little Pieces" mess. And Bruce said that everybody should give James Frey a break, everyone's getting all up in arms because he wrote this book and parts of it weren't true, and so now he's exiled from the kingdom? And of Oprah, Bruce said, "She had Bill Clinton on her show when his book came out, and nobody went crazy about that." HA!

Good point Bruce.

You and I and George

I was fortunate enough to receive "The Muppet Show" season one on DVD this Christmas (thanks Drapo!) and I can't even tell you how fun it is to be watching the Muppet Show again. It really was our "Saturday Night Live" when we were kids..guest stars and skits and all. And now I'm going to share with you one of the gems I've found from the first episode. It's a song that Rowlf sings while playing his piano, and it's called "You and I and George". Below please find his intro and the lyrics.

I'm now going to play you one of the great classic songs of our time.
It's called 'You and I and George'.
Now you might say,
'How come I've never heard this ever popular classic before?'
And the reason is
that in its only recording, 'You and I and George' sold two copies
I bought one and George bought one
Where were you?

My own mother turns down her hearing aid whenever I play this song...
here goes

"You and I and George,
went strolling
through the park one day
and you held my hand
as if to say
I love you,

then
we passed a brook,
and George
fell in and drowned himself
and was washed out to sea
leaving you alone
with me!"

So awesome. :-) (Yes I'm really bored at work. Sue me.)

Subway Etiquette

Since you all loved last week's post on Umbrella Etiquette, and since the people of New York still need so much help in the "be courteous of others" department, it's time for another part in the etiquette series, this time, about riding the subway. Any New Yorker who rides the subway probably does it every day, so the plain fact is that we all know how it works. Still, there are about a million people who don't bother to follow a few very simple rules that would make subway riding more pleasant for everybody. So all you jerks out there, this one's for you:

1. When you are standing on the platform, and the train pulls up, do not immediately stand right in front of the doors waiting for them to open. This is the simplest rule, and still, so many people don't understand it. I know you're in a rush, but you have to wait for the people to get off the train before you can get on. So standing right in front of the doors only makes this process take longer, because they have to wait for you to move, or glare at you and then push past you. See those yellow blocks on the platform that say "Stand Aside?" They are there for a reason. The conductor stops the train specially so that the doors open at those yellow blocks. So do what they say!

2. If you don't have your Metrocard ready, get the fuck out of the way. I see it every day. It's rush hour. People are zipping in and out of the turnstiles. And inevitably, I will be behind some woman who will race down the subway steps, and then come to a dead stop in front of the turnstile. Then she will start looking around for her metrocard. Here's a though - how about having it ready when you get down there? Remember when you had thirty seconds to kill waiting to cross the street? That might have been a good time to look for the metrocard. If you don't have your metrocard ready, move to the side.

3. If the train is crowded, do not lean your entire body against the pole. People really do this! They lean up against the whole thing so that you can't possibly hold on to it - because you'd literally have to slide your hand between the pole and their stomach. Ew. People, the next time you see five people falling all over the place on a train car, please remove your stupid body from the pole so that they can have a place to hang on.

4. Don't get on the train and stand right in the doorway. And if you're already on the train and standing in the doorway, please move the fuck out of the way when the doors open to let others on. I know that's the good spot, and I like it too, believe me. But everybody bottlenecks near the doors and no one stands in the middle of the train and it's idiotic. When trains are crowded, I'm afraid that I'm going to miss my stop too - but you know what? That's one of the risks you take living in New York. Get over it.

5. Don't stick your hand in the doors when they are almost closed to try and get on. Seriously, it scares the crap out of me. I saw these two old ladies do it once, and the doors kept closing on them while they tried to get on, and then one got on and the other fell, and she got her leg wedged in between the train and the platform. And I thought that the train was going to take off and it was scary. So just don't do it. There's another train coming in five minutes, believe me. You should see how the trains are in Italy. They close in one shot, slam shut - and God help you if you're hand or anything else is in there. You'd be helplessly dragged to Milan and no one would even notice.

6. Last but not least, try and be mindful of personal space. I know it's sometimes difficult, especially during rush hour, but some of you perverts (you know who you are) take it too far. Get off me.

Happy Friday!

This is Why Your Mom Told You to Always Do the Right Thing

See this is why your Mom always told you to do the right thing. Because when you try to rob stores, sometimes you get stuck in the vent on the way in. And sometimes you have to hang there for six hours until the employees get there in the morning. And then the entire Orlando Fire Department has to come and rescue you. Oy. But hell this sure is funny.

Umbrella etiquette

God knows that New York City is crowded, and as a New Yorker you have to share your space with a lot of other people. It's tough sometimes. Especially when it rains.

However - there are quite a few people out there who do not know the proper etiquette for umbrellas. Guys, please help us out here:

1 - Carrying huge golf umbrellas that keep you totally dry is nice for you, but it means that there's no room for the rest of us on the sidewalk. Golf umbrellas were invented for people who get stuck in rainstorms while they're out on the 12th hole and can't bear not to finish their game. Leave it in the golf bag - don't try to walk down Broadway with it.

2 - When you're getting on the subway - you must shut your umbrella before you begin your descent down the stairs. I know that you might have to get wet for about eight steps and I'm really sorry about it. I'm going to have to do it too. But the fact is, if you leave your umbrella up until the last possible minute, you're going to poke someone's eye out in that narrow staircase.

3 - When you're getting off the subway - you cannot put your umbrella up until you are at the top of the stairs. The same logic applies here as in rule #2 above.

4 - When riding the subway, bus or elevators after coming out of the rain, please use the handy dandy velcro thingy to wrap up your umbrella. Leaving it all hanging out in a crowded place means the rest of us get wetter and more annoyed, and again, you might poke us.

5 - When walking down the street with your umbrella - please be mindful of the people walking beside you or towards you with their umbrellas. Sometimes when two people are passing each other - one person needs to raise their umbrella or move over slightly. It's not okay to smack into other people with your umbrella - would you do that with your car when passing somone on the street?

Let's hope the rain goes away soon so that we can have a semi-peaceful commute home tonight. Happy Friday all.

New Look for the Blog

I got really bored with the pink - so this is the new look for the blog. :-)