Rambling Through the Holidays...

Hope everybody had a great Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus!! We had a nice quiet holiday here in NYC once again...we'll get to that day in a bit, but I feel like its been a while since I actually blogged (good job, Jen, for keeping it going....I was worried our blog was going to fall apart like the Neals apparently has)

So lets get caught up on some stuff meandering through my mind these days...

-- We're trying to blaze through Broadway these days. Tons of shows are closing early and shutting down due to the poor economy. So we went and saw All My Sons with John Lithgow, Katie Holmes, Dianne Weist and Patrick Wilson the other day...good show...Lithgow's always good in these settings, and Katie Holmes did well for her Broadway debut...although I think the highlight for Jen was seeing Katie carry young Suri out of the theater after the show...though she wasn't very happy with the Nazi-esque security guard that wouldn't let Jen stand near the guardrail because I left our printout tickets inside....after everyone had left, we went looking for the guy to give him a piece of our mind, but he had fled the scene, probably because he knew we were coming with a SMACKDOWN!!!

-- Anyways, we're off to see Young Frankenstein this weekend, and I've managed to talk Jen into seeing Spamalot next week before it closes (we're getting big time cheap tickets). That will make a grand total of EIGHT Broadway shows for us since we've been here...I've got this grand plan to buy frames for the Playbills and hang them up...we'll post pictures when it happens...

-- Speaking of Nazis (boy there's a segue), we went and saw Valkyrie last Friday. Pretty good movie, and I really am coming back around on Tom Cruise after "Tropic Thunder" and his appearance on Kimmel a couple of weeks back (where he played "Touch The Head), but he couldn't even attempt a German accent for this flick? In fact, no one apparently could...its a movie about Nazi Germany, and I think I counted 2 German accents...who knew there were so many Brits and Americans in the Nazi Party Germany in the early 1940s??? Having said all that, the movie was still pretty good...

-- I don't know about you, but as an anti-Yankee fan, I can't wait for this July when I'll get to watch a 420-pound C.C. Sabathia laboring through a 95 percent humidity day at Yankee Stadium when he's 6-and-8 with an ERA over 5....yeah, that was worth 180 million dollars...I mean, anytime you offer a guy 160-million, and he leaves the deal on the table for a month PRAYING that some other team will offer him something close because he doesn't want to come to New York, then you have to throw him an extra 20-mill just to get him to come play for your team, I mean, you have to do that deal.... BWHAHAHAH!!! Man, I love the Yankees when they overreact...between Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, that money is just wasted....

-- Speaking of the Yankees, Brian and Katie Neal were in town for the holidays, and Katie put together a surprise 30th birthday party for Brian as well that Jen and I were able to go to...since he's the ever optimist, I think he liked the gift I got him....

-- I'm fairly certain Al Davis is now no longer able to competently run the Raiders because after watching his performance in the "I fired Lane Kiffin" press conference, I'm pretty sure Al is now a sea monster....

Well, we've reached the halfway point of this entry, so lets take a commercial break....

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"Now for a limited time only you can get amazing zero percent APR financing on any Toyota"

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"That's zero percent financing on 11 different models. No other car brand can make this offer. So hurry in now and see how much zero can save you on a Toyota."

"Saved by zero! Saved by zero!"

(by the way, that was from off the top of my head. We're coming awfully close to the point where I'll be a week away from driving to a Toyota dealership, buying a new Toyota with zero percent APR financing, driving off the lot, then yanking a 180 and speeding straight through the windows of the showroom at 80 miles an hour while I lean out the window yelling "Saved by zero!!!" Toyota folks, you might wanna shut down the ads...I'm not kidding. You know why we havn't seen John Cougar Mellancamp in, like, 2 years? Cause some guy has him trapped in a trunk in his basement dressed like The Gimp from Pulp Fiction after hearing "This is our country" for the nine-millionth time. Time to tone it down Toyota...we get it. Zero percent APR financing....heard you.

AND WE'RE BACK!!

-- I really wanted to root for Brett Favre this season, but that did go out the window as soon as the Pack dropped from the playoff picture, so watching the Jets collapse and Favre play like the old man he is was strangely enjoyable. I tried to warn Jets fans that this was coming, though even I didn't think Brett would crap the bed the way he did in the last five games (2 TDs, 9 interceptions) to lead the Jets from a sure playoff berth to on the outside looking in...now one day later, the Jets head coach is canned, and New York gets to spend the next six months doing the same "is he coming back, is he retiring" dance that I went through the last 3 seasons...good times!!

(by the way, if you're keeping track, I've done a complete 360 on my feelings for Favre. I hope no one injured their neck keeping track of those mood swings)

-- Christmas/Hanukkah was wonderful this year. I got some very nice sweaters and a great RL polo from Jen along with tickets to the Upright Citizens Brigade show (which we went to last night)...and great gifts from my family like the SportsNight DVD set from Sister Jen and the Jeff Pearlman book about the Cowboys from Mom and Dad...and a whole host of other stuff...its funny, when I was younger, I used to dread unwrapping a present to find what I called "the dreaded Sears box." Now? I'm more excited to get clothes than anything else. Does this mean I'm growing up?

-- Speaking of clothes for Christmas, I had asked my folks for a Sac State sweatshirt as a gift for reasons that continue to elude me...I guess I feel more of a tinge to represent my college experience out here since no one in the world has heard of CSUS out here. Or maybe its because I'm currently trying to lead the Hornets football team to the national title on NCAA Football 2009 on the Wii....or maybe its because I look good in green...I don't know...anyways, I got the sweatshirt and wasn't planning to wear it that same day, but when Chris and Shirley came over Christmas Day for dinner, Chris said "guess what I got for Christmas?" and he took off his coat to reveal a Sac State Hornets t-shirt!! Well, that changed my dress plans for dinner...I think we look rather good, don't you....

-- Christmas dinner consisted of delicious turkey cooked by Jen, with cranberry sauce and green bean casserole, and Shirley brought delicious lasagna and made lumpea as an appetizer, which I think I ate about 7 of....

Overall, its been a great few weeks and we'll see what the new year brings!! Happy New Year everybody!!!!

Mike

30th Birthday!

I feel very blessed. I have accomplished some pretty awesome things over the last decade. I met my best friend and partner in life., married him, had some amazing positions in the field I have wanted to work in since age 14, moved over 3000 miles away to the largest city in the country to work in the center of the news universe, and not to mention Cooper's bouncy presence in our lives. So I feel very fortunate and blessed for my 20's. I can only hope To be just as successful, lucky and happy in my 30.
Speaking of blessed., I had two amazing 30th birthday parties!!!A few months ago I was looking ahead to my 30th and was sad I wouldn't be with all of my friends in Sacramento to celebrate.. But I have been very fortunate to make a lot of good friends in NY in the last year. My friend Dawn threw me a bowling birthday party at this hip bowling alley called Bowlmor Lanes in Union Square on the Sunday before my birthday. It was so much fun and I was amazed at how many people came out. It was super fun. Here are some pics...

On my actual birthday .Mike and I flew to Vegas. We stayed at the Bellagio. I have always wanted to stay there and it did not disappoint.. Our room was beautiful and huge! You could open and close the curtains with a switch in either fast or slow speeds. This was so my entertainment! Whenever Mike would walk up to the window I would close them on him. It never got old! Our view was fantastic! We could see the Bellagio fountains spray up in the air and Paris' Eiffel Tower was right outside our room!! The maid service was the best I had ever experienced too! I took like 3 showers a day because I didn't want to smell like smoke from the casinos. Every time I left the room, magically the bathroom was clean and we had fresh towels. I wish that happened at home!
After we checked in a surprise arrived at our door. It was room service with champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. A birthday surprise from Kelly and Chris! It was awesome!!
For my birthday dinner we went to Emeril Lagasse's steakhouse the Delmonico in the Venetian. It was amazingly BAMtastic!

On Friday both of our parents and my sister and her new guy pal arrived.
Friday morning we had brunch w/ my mom and dad at the Bellagio and then headed next door to the Forum shops at Caesar's! You see we have a little tradition, on your 30th birthday Weiss Women get a Louis Vuitton. 2 yrs ago my sister got one and I was so jealous.. You see I've always been the handbag lover in our family. So I was counting down the days until I turned 30 and tada... Isn't it beautiful!! For those of youwho care it's the Neverfull GM
That night we had my birthday at Machines across the street from the Wynn. It was so much fun! Our good family friends the Goldmans joined us. It was a great night.
We spent Saturday bumming around, shopping check out the casinos that opened since our last visit and then on Sunday we went all went home.
It was an Amazing Birthday Weekend!!

Oddly enough it was warmer back in NY then it was in Vegas. It was so cold. If we would have left a day later we would have seen it snow on the strip! And probably would have gotten stuck there too!!

Catching up Thanksgiving, Canada, and Early December!

Lots of catching up to do. As you all know we just got back from celebrating my 30th birthday in Las Vegas.
Before I tell you about all that I need to catch you up on everything that's happened since Thanksgiving.

On Thanksgiving day we had dinner with some friends that we have made in our neighborhood. James and Laura live a few blocks north of us and

Andy lives just down the street from us.
Laura hosted dinner and made the most moist amazing turkey, I brought 2 sides; creamed corn and green bean casserole. and Cooper was invited! He wore a fall. Themed sweater for the occasion.

Friday morning instead of doing up the black Friday sales we hit the road. Mike, Cooper and I packed into a little red rental car and headed north to mike's grandmas house. We literally went over several rivers and through the woods (the Pocono's) for about a 6 hour drive. This was Cooper's 3rd trip into Canada. I wore a red T-shirt with a big white maple leaf on it to charm the guards at the boarding crossing. On the way home he sported his stylish "I dog bone NY" hoodie.

We had a wonderful time in Canada. It wasn't as cold as it was the year before when we went and we had so much fun with Mikes relatives. We stopped in to see Mikes dads sister Irene while we were there. Living closer has allowed us to see Irene and Dick a lot in the last year.

All in all we had a wonderful trip up north.

The following weekend our good friends Will and Jen came into NY for a night to stay with us.

They are friends from Sacramento and we have dined with them in s states now! CA, GA, CT, & NY. Maybe next time we'll meet in Jersey just to bring it up to 5!!!

The next day Santa made an appearance at our neighborhood dog park so all the little dogs, put on their warm little sweaters and met for an afternoon of dog park fun! I brought Coopers Hanukkah bone and asked Santa to hold it since Cooper celebrates both Hanukkah and Christmas!

Viva Las Vegas, Blog On Hiatus (hey, that rhymes!)

We've been lagging with the blog...no excuses...just lagging...

and now we're gonna lag some more because we're off to Las Vegas tomorrow for four days of rip-roaring adventure in honor of Jen turning the big 3-0

So when we get back, I PROMISE we'll catch everybody up on the last few weeks, including Thanksgiving, our trip to Canada to visit Grandma, Will and Jen coming down for an overnight trip and the Las Vegas excursion...

I WOULD like to say, since I haven't blogged in awhile, that I really appreciate all the kind words expressed both on this blog and to me in other forms of communication regarding the passing of Murphy the Dog...I know it meant a lot to my family, and it means a lot to me....thanks very much, you guys are the best!!!

Expect a new post either Monday or Tuesday of next week...in the meantime...

"bright light city, gonna set my soul, gonna SET MY SOUL ON FIRE!!"


Mike