Mike, Jen and Cooper's Stupendous NYC Adventure!!

Cooper and the Baby- Trial Pic

2010-02-21T21:48:00.002-05:00

In our effort to get ready for baby, we (I) have decided that every weekend Mike needs to assemble something that is in a box.

Tonight it was the car seat and lucky for Mike it really didn't require much assembly aside from taking it out of the box.

Anyhow, I like to visualize things so after the car seat was all put together I decided to put the baby's home from the hospital outfit in the car seat and then Cooper decided he needed to investigate it.

Here's a picture of Cooper and the outfit in the car seat.

I imagine this is what the first picture of Madelynn and Cooper together will look like! :)

Cooper Plays in the Snoq

2010-02-14T10:58:00.008-05:00

Our California dog now LOVES the SNOW! As long as he's wearing a jacket or a sweatshirt!

As you can see, he's got no problems getting covered in the snow. Since Snowpocalypse 2010 last week brought 13 inches of snow to our neighborhood in 24 hours, Cooper's been just waiting to be able to go romp in it. So Saturday, we took him to the park, and walked down to the soccer field, and took him off the leash so he could run around. He started doing laps between the two of us, but the snow was so deep he looked like a serpent trying to make his way through the large drifts.

Cooper Runs in the Snow

Cooper Plays Catch in the Snow

Ball playing has never been one of Cooper's strong suits, at least not outside. Sure, he loves to play fetch indoors with a tennis ball, but since I'm 97 percent certain he has ADD, when he gets outside and you try to play ball with him, it can get a little dicey since he's easily distracted. HOWEVER, he really focuses on snowballs. He loves to chase them, he loves to catch them. As you can see in the videos, though, he's not quite sure what to do with them WHEN he catches them. Usually he ends up chewing them up. Hey, great source of water!! Oh our crazy dog... ;)

Watch the belly grow...

2010-01-27T21:52:00.001-05:00

Cooper Opening a present

2009-12-26T11:17:00.003-05:00

So I'll post more later about our wonderful month of December and the fabulous holiday season. Until then... Check out this video of Cooper opening up a Christmas present on Christmas morning.

It's a GIRL!!!

2009-12-08T16:34:00.003-05:00

So baby Dub is a Dubette! That's right we're having a GIRL!

The doctor did an anatomy scan where they closely analyze every organ, bone and crevasse and she's health and strong!

Here's her latest ultrasound pictures- 22 weeks:

Much love,

Jen and Mike

Belly Pics

2009-11-15T19:29:00.006-05:00

We're still a few weeks away from finding out the sex. We learn if we're team pink or team blue on Nov. 30th.

As of today 11/15- I'm am 18 weeks pregnant!

Here are some belly pics:

Birthday Bash

2009-11-08T13:24:00.018-05:00

Well, the good news is that we've acquired another laptop, so the lack of postings on the blog, Jen's Facebook, and my Twitter should get back to normal now. A posting of our anniversary trip to Maine will come eventually (for those who don't have FB and didn't see Jen's pics on her page) but currently, those pictures are trapped on the hard drive of our OTHER laptop (which has sent in its letter of resignation) and we will eventually see them freed ("FREEDOM!!") by the geeks at the Geek Squad.

But enough of the past, its time to talk about the present, or actually, the more recent past. I turned 33 a couple of weeks ago. Holy Mother of God. THIRTY-THREE!!! I've told my mother that instead of saying the actual age, I like to mention it in the theme of jersey numbers of famous athletes. So I turned Larry Bird this year. It just sounds better, doesn't it? Magic Johnson last year. Larry Bird this year. Lets hope I make it to Wayne Gretzky.

Its not fun getting older. But thanks to Jen, my wonderful (and pregnant) wife, we managed to have a celebration of my birth that involved my child-like id. In fact, I think the email invitation to our friends said something to the effect of, "Mike's turning 33, but he still wants to be a child, so help him celebrate by coming over to play video games with him."

And she's right. I'm 33, sorry, Larry Bird, but one of my favorite possessions continues to be our Wii video game system. I have entirely too many games for it, PLUS, we have the best party game ever in the form of Rock Band 2.

(By the way, that sound that you hear right now is my father's head hitting the ceiling as he realizes that he has a 33 year old son who plays video games consistently. Sorry, Dad. Must be a generational thing...)

Anyways, its been stated before in this forum that Rock Band 2 might be one of the best purchases we have made. Its always fun to play, people who normally don't like to sing karaoke can't help themselves in front of the mic, or they get behind the drums or on the guitar, and fun instantly erupts. As you can imagine, this was THE game that got everyone involved at my party. Below are the pics from everybody rockin' out, and thanks to everyone for making my 33rd birthday a rousing success.

Me and my Molson

Carlos and Elisa

Me, my co-worker Jim and James

Nick (on mic) Laura (on drums) and Jon

Lord only knows what Dawn is singing here... =)

Here, however, its Kickstart My Heart by Motley Crue, i.e. one of the best songs on this game. That's Andy on guitar.

Jen and Cooper checking everyone out

Dawn, my co-worker Jen, Jim, me and Jen's boyfriend John

Jim and John probably playing something funky.

Jen's singing here, so possibly Lucinda Williams?

My beautiful cake, from my beautiful wife

Dawn never sings karaoke, but she's all about Rock Band

Cooper happy to have everyone over!

When most folks left, Jen and I, along with James, Laura, Andy and Dawn hung out to play Cranium. We always team Andy and Dawn up during these times, because they are hilarious partners.

Exhibit A of what I just said.

Whatever Dawn is humming, we apparently find hilarious.

At the end of the night, Cooper just wanted to cuddle with Baby Watts

Update and Ultrasound pics!

2009-10-05T12:02:00.003-04:00

Hi All-

We just had the 12 week ultra sound this morning (10/5) at the hospital... It looked like even more of a baby this time.

We saw it wiggle it's arms and head.. It was so cool.

The showed us the baby's profile and the top of the head.. Its brain and everything is developing as it should and the neck looks good too.

The baby is measuring at a due date of April 14th now. We go back to my doctor next Monday and she'll decide whether or not to change the due date.

This is our first appointment at the hospital. It was really nice and everyone there was really friendly. It's St Luke's Roosevelt Hospital on the Upper Westside of Manhattan. It's where I will eventually deliver.

Here's a look at all of my ultrasounds starting with the first:

First Ultrasound- 6 weeks - taken on 8/24/09

Second Ultrasound- 9 weeks - taken on 9/14/09

Third Ultrasound- 12 weeks - taken on 10/5/09 - Body Length and profile

Breaking News

2009-09-18T11:01:00.001-04:00

Dear Friends and Family-

It's time to break a little news of our own for a change... We're pregnant!

Baby Watts or as Mike has been calling it Baby Dub is due on 4/20/10.

That's right Cooper is going to be a big brother!!

We found out on August 8th and keeping the secret has been torture. We've had 2 appointments so far and we were lucky enough to see an ultra sound picture both times.

Back on August 24th the baby looked like a little blinking blob (the blink was the heartbeat) and then on Monday the 14th it looked more like an actual baby.

We could see the head, the arms, and the heartbeat.. And the baby already takes after it's mom because it wouldn't stay still to get it's measurements, it kept wiggling!

Anyhow, we are very excited to be able to tell everyone finally!!

Secrets have never been my strong suit.

I hope this post finds everyone happy and healthy.

Much Love,

Jen and Mike

Random Thoughts (August 2009 edition)

2009-08-29T08:12:00.010-04:00

RANDOM THOUGHTS WHILE I FIGURE OUT WHAT I'M DOING UP AT 730AM ON A SATURDAY...

-- Well, lets start there. What the hell am I doing up this early? The answer is I've gotten up to watch soccer. Seriously. ESPN has started to cover the English Premier League, so my on-again, off-again interest with English club soccer is back on apparently. So I'm up watching Chelsea take on the surprise of the EPL this season so far, Burnley (who somehow managed to upset Man U earlier this week). And sorry to Kev, but I'm not rooting for Chelsea. I love me a good underdog (as one can tell from all the regular teams I root for...Jays, Pack, Leafs, etc.

-- I've made many wise purchases in my 32 years of existence, but buying Rock Band 2 for our Wii about a month ago now is probably in the Top Five. That game is EXTRAORDINARILY fun. My friend James, Andy and I immediately formed a band whose name probably isn't fit for print here, and then proceeded to play the game in SIX hour stretches once or twice a week until we finally beat the damn thing back on Tuesday. Andy on guitar, me on drums and James singing. And while we've beaten the game, it still remains fun to be able to unlock new songs and just perfect ourselves on the old favorites, along with downloading new songs. The bottom line is this game is gonna be a hit in the Watts household due to our love to throw parties. One can imagine it getting lots of play for years to come.

-- And Jen's efforts on drums haved improved IMMENSELY in the past month. I'm not sure we'll start calling her Ringo just yet, but she's doing very very well.

-- We're still buzzing about our great time hanging out with Kelly and Chris T. and their little Rylee when they came to town a few weeks back. Chris had a meeting in Washington D.C. and they were able to come up to NYC for 4 days at the back end of the trip. Our friends CONTINUE to have the cutest kids. Rylee, who just hit six months, was all kinds of fun to hang out with, and we took that kid EVERYWHERE (as Kelly detailed in their blog, which you can find a link to on this page)

-- Speaking of blogs, if you aren't reading our friend Katie Neal's blog detailing her four month stint in Singapore for work-related purposes, you should be. Katie has a great knack for keeping everyone informed as she embarks on this adventure, and it makes for fun reading. Also, she takes a ton of pictures, which is always good. So after you're done with this, go read her blog and get caught up. (link also on the right side of this page) As you can see, she's making great efforts to get a real feel for a new country.

-- See, Katie? I was able to say all those nice things and not make a joke or comment about Coach Cal's impending takedown of Kentucky basketball or the sordid life of your former coach at UK (Pitino). Wait, am I talking out loud?

-- Jen now has a new favorite sport. The Little League World Series. Most everyone knows Jen's lack of, um, passion for all things sport. In fact, usually when we go to baseball games, she spends more time looking at the purses of other women than watching the game on the field. So getting her to WATCH baseball on TV is like pulling teeth, but I got her to sit down to watch the prelim game where the team from Granite Bay take on the team from So Cal for the right to go to the finals in Williamsport. Within minutes, she was intrigued, and was also calling for a full investigation into the exact age of the So Cal pitcher (he's purported to be 12...he looks roughly 27) Granite Bay lost (too bad), but we kept paying attention to the games once the Williamsport, PA finals took over. She watched the nailbiter between Canada and Mexico, and was thrilled that Canada actually had a girl on their team. She paid attention to the goings-on of the Staten Island team that was making a run at the tournament. More importantly, when I asked her one night what she wanted to watch on TV, she actually said, "the Little League World Series." This is amazing. So expect us in front of the TV this weekend keeping an eye on the kids.

-- In other news, that So Cal team is probably going to win the title, which stinks, because they have at least two kids who are NO WAY under the age of 13. I don't want to make accusations about children, but the one pitcher I think is actually shaving between innings. Someone get "Dateline" on the phone and get this conspiracy uncovered!!

-- A few days ago I took a taxi to work in the early AM because our subway train was down. The cabbie was blasting Beethoven's Symphony Number Six all the way there. I feel like you need to know these things.

-- Go see Inglourious Basterds. Right now. Stop what you're doing, and go see it. Really fun movie. I'm trying to get Jen to see it (I went with James), for no other reason than the fact that SPOILER ALERT!: her people come out really well in the movie.

-- An open letter to Brett Favre. Dear Brett, We're done. Finished. Kaput. I can no longer support you and this ridiculous "should-I-stay-or-should-I-go?" nonsense. You've become a joke...a national joke. So lets just call this relationship over. Perhaps I'll return to you when you make it to the HOF in Canton. But until that time, please kindly go fuck yourself. Warmest Regards, Mike...

-- We finally FINALLY have joined the rest of the free world in enjoying Mad Men. Our friend Liz let us borrow Season 1, which we blazed through in roughly 3 days, and then I bought Season 2, which took us a weekend to watch, so we could be ready for Season 3. I now understand what all the fuss is about. Its really good TV, and I highly recommend it.

-- This week's sign of the Apocalypse? Jen has started to read the "Twilight" books...seriously.

-- Don't expect Jen to be rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles anytime soon. Or me for that matter. I can't believe someone signed Mike Vick. What a joke. The Packers reportedly were in the market for him, and I had decided that if Green Bay signed him, I'd have given up rooting for the Pack as long as he was on the squad. Some guys don't deserve second chances. My guess is many dogs of Eagles fans reacted the following way when hearing the news about Vick's signing.

-- A few weekends ago, one Saturday for Jen and I consisted of going to see Julie and Julia in the theatre, followed by us watching Kung Fu Panda at home while eating Chinese food. Which leads me to the following statement: How married are we?

-- Finally, getting ready for our annual anniversary trip next weekend. We're headed to Maine for four days with a probable stop in New Hampshire. Nothing major planned, just lots of relaxation. I can't believe Jen and I will have been married for four years. Seems like it was just yesterday she was stumbling over her vows while repeating them ;) Love you baby!!

Until next time....

Mike

Way Up Nooorth!

2009-08-08T19:45:00.010-04:00

I always wanted to start a blog with a quote from a Johnny Horton song..

OK, many people continue to bitch about the lack of blogging. And Jen has decided that Facebook takes up too much of her time, so blogging about our lives now falls to me. You've been warned...

Time to recap the vacation that Jen, Cooper and I took to our family cottage up in Canada last month.

We got up there on Saturday the 18th and as we were driving in I thought "I wonder when the fish fry is this year? I wonder if we'll be here for it?" For the uninitiated, the "fish fry" is a fundraiser that the little town where our cottage is (Perth Road Village) does for the local volunteer firefighters. Growing up, it was a HUGE part of our summers at the cottage. We always went, even after the unfortunate "no sugar in the pie" incident that ended with me and Cousin Jen nearly hurling.

Anyways, I hadn't been in a long time, and lo and behold as we're driving through Perth Road Village to get to the cottage, there's the sign.

"Fish Fry. July 18th. 4 to 8 pm"

It dawned on me that today was actually the 18th and I was super pumped! So I get to the cottage, and Mom and Grandma are there to greet us, along with Aunt Patty and Uncle Gary (who own the cottage next door). And I was all excited, "What time are we going to the fish fry?!"

And my mother made a face. As did Aunt Patty. Come to find out, they knew it was today and didn't tell me because they didn't want to go!! It had been a big conspiracy! They claimed because they didn't want me speeding to get there in time, but I don't know.

Anyways, I said "to hell with that, we're going!" and we went.

Here's the deal about the fish fry. 12 bucks for a shitload of fried fish, french fries, cole slaw and baked beans. actually, 2 plates full of all that (you could go back for seconds)...unbelievably old-timey and good.

Here's a picture of me and my grandmother about to enjoy the food!

Also, the fish fry also has become famous for its crowds that I can only describe as "State Fairish." You ever seen someone so ugly you got out of line to go point them out to your friends? That kind of crowd. Hilarious. Canadian rednecks. Good times.

That was Saturday...the next day my cousin Jen came with her husband Ken and their nearly 4-year-old daughter Alexandra. I tell you, this kid is a hoot. All she wanted to do was catch butterflies and other bugs for awhile, then it was all about catching fish out of the lake. She brought her own net and everything. So after lunch, Alexandra, Ken and I went down to the dock, and lo and behold "Alexandra Caught A Fish!!"(tm)

That's been trademarked as a catch phrase now because that was all she repeated as she stormed up to the deck to show off the sunfish she'd lured into the net. She actually caught two fish, so big day for her.

Cooper had a good time too because Jen and Ken brought their little dog Luka as well. Cooper and Luka got along splendidly, and Luka got to show off his boogie board skills..

Cooper felt a little left out I think, and since I was in the water swimming, he decided to jump in after me. I think he immediately regretted the decision, but he dog paddled out to me at the raft, and then dogpaddled back to shore. Nothing like a soaking wet dog!

All in all, a really good time hanging out with our cousins, and of course, we made time for the world-famous "Couch Picture"

Monday, I drove in and played golf with my Uncle Dick and Cousin Joe at a course near where both their families have vacation homes. As usual, I came in dead last. I just don't play enough to have a decent game these days. But it was still a lot of fun. We went out for our traditional ice cream cones afterwards, and then the whole family came back to Uncle Dick and Aunt Irene's home in Kingston for a visit, Cooper included.

Tuesday, Jen and I took a day trip into Westport, which is a little town about 20 minutes away from our cottage. Brought Cooper and wandered around the town, did a little shopping for stuff, and overall had a nice day.

Wednesday, we drove to Toronto for a little overnight trip. I wasn't going all the way to Canada without seeing the Blue Jays, God dammit! We got it early in the afternoon and went IMMEDIATELY to the Jays team store, at which point I spent entirely way too much money on a golf shirt, a nice sweatshirt, and two hats. We also managed to get Jen a Blue Jays hat as well.

Before we went to the game, we met up with my cousin Tasha, who lives in Toronto. I hadn't seen her in six years, so it was good to catch up with her and see what she was up to. Lots of Canadian family to see when we're up there!

We went to the game, where we both proceeded to get mildly drunk. Good God, Canadian beer continues to amaze me with its potency compared to American beer.

In an added bonus, the Jays actually kicked the crap out of the Indians and won the game (no small feat these days). So it was good to see them win.

The next day we walked around Toronto for awhile. Went to the St. Lawrence Marketplace, where I seriously pondered buying some ground camel (though it might have been a tough time getting that past border patrol). We also went to the Eaton Centre to do some shopping for Jen and wandered part of the city to do some general sight-seeing.

We then got caught in a torrential downpour and had to pull over for awhile, but eventually made it back to the cottage. Before that, though, we drove by my old house where I grew up when I lived in Toronto. I lived there til I was 5 years old, and though I don't remember too much, I still have fairly vivid memories of walking to the school just down the block, and getting in trouble with my friend Ryan Whalen for throwing stones in his neighbor's pool.

Anyways, Mom says the house has changed a bit on the outside, but it sure looked familiar to me.

Friday, and frankly, the rest of the weekend was spent relaxing, which was one of the best parts of the trip. One of the great things about the cottage is there is no TV, no internet....you're forced to relax and either read a book, or head out into a canoe, or learn how to knit from your mother-in-law and aunt-in-law.

Fortunately, Jen managed to learn how to do all three of these things, as seen in the pictures below.

She's quite a knitter now, which is good, because I can always use scarves.

Uncle Gary also took us out in his boat for a toodle around the lake, so Cooper could get a good look at the loons, other cottages and the overall scenery. =)

All in all, a wonderful vacation, and we can't wait to go back next year!!

Mike

Rewriting Jackson History

2009-07-02T20:24:00.004-04:00

The following is the view of Mike Watts and Mike Watts only. Well probably some other people in this world too. But its my handiwork.

OK, quick rant this time. And I need to preface this with the fact that while I'm annoyed that Michael Jackson's death has led to my wife being gone for a total of 7 days, with 5 more on the horizon, THAT isn't the reason for this rant.

Look, I enjoyed Michael Jackson's music growing up. I remember when Thriller came out. I was 7 years old living in Florida at the time. I remember seeing the video for Thriller, and having it scare the bejesus out of me. I enjoyed Billie Jean, Beat It, The Way You Make Me Feel, and a few others.

And then Michael Jackson went crazy right around 1990, and that was it...I listened to songs like Black or White, Remember the Time and such, but certainly didn't think they were anything great.

And that was that...I didn't think anything extra about Michael Jackson again...he was just some weird guy who showed up in the tabloids every now and then, who molested some kids, and stayed in seclusion.

Frankly, I think most of the world felt the same way I did...we stopped paying attention, and everyone was ok with that....and that includes everyone..white people...black people...all people. He was a joke in the black community. Black people were ashamed of him. They wanted to disassociate themselves from him, and frankly, Michael did everything he could to push away from the African-American community as well. Problem was, us white people didn't want him either at that time. By that point, he was a freak show, and we have plenty of those already, thanks.

My point is, ever since Jackson died, I've watched people of all colors basically give themselves false narratives for their relationship with him. People on camera saying things like "Thriller was the soundtrack of my life" and "I listened to his music all the time." People running down the Apollo Theater to dance around pictures of Michael and celebrate his life. Seriously. SERIOUSLY!

Bullshit. Its all bullshit. Talk about revisionist history. No one in the WORLD cared about Michael Jackson for the last 15 years...possibly more. In fact, we were turned off by him. And why wouldn't we be. The guy molested children. HE MOLESTED CHILDREN. And I know he wasn't found guilty, but when you give the families of the kids millions of dollars as a payout...well, we can all draw our own conclusions. And since he's dead and there's no threat of a libel lawsuit, I'll continue to say it. HE MOLESTED CHILDREN. Go read the Vanity Fair articles from back in 2003-04. Its all there. You can't see all that information and not think it. Remember, OJ wasn't found guilty either.

And what's funny is, everyone in the world seems to have given him a mulligan on the last 15 years. Unbelievable. Of course, ask these same people if they would have allowed their child to go to the Neverland Ranch and you get the ol' "of course not! I'm just saying..." No, what you're saying is you were as turned off by Jacko as the rest of us, but now you think you HAVE to show some sort of pining feeling for the man. Ridiculous.

Watching these people all head to the Apollo the other morning, I couldn't help but shake my head. Especially even more when I found out my friend Andy was one of these people. His actual answer when I asked him what the heck he was doing down there was, "well, I saw it on TV and it looked like everyone was having fun." I remain flabbergasted that there are so many people who are so mentally incompetent, they see something like this on TV, and think, "well, this is a major moment...and I need to be a part of it."

Look, everyone needs to stop with the revisionist history when it comes to Michael Jackson and remember him for what he was...a really good musician...a monumental pop star for his time, and then a sleazy joke for the last 15 years. Period. The faster they get this nut job in the ground, the better.

And take LaToya with him....

Mike Watts

I know, everyoe misses the blog

2009-06-16T13:19:00.003-04:00

Hello loyal and complaining readers.

I know, I know... It's been well over 2 months since we've updated the blog. Maybe its my constant updates on facebook or my more infrequent tweets on twitter, but I haven't been much of a blogger these days.

Anyhow, to ward of the complaints I'm updating today to let you know of Mike's big award last night.

Mike got an award for excellence in news coverage.

The award was given to him and 3 of his co workers for a compilation of reports and coverage they did on the resignation of Gov. Spitzer last year.

It was presented to them last night at the NY city press club
banquet.

Anyhow, its really cool! I'm proud of him. He can now put that he's an

award winning journalist on his resume.

Go Mike!!

Subway Pet Peeves

2009-04-22T22:54:00.004-04:00

We ride the subway every day, and while it is a good way to get around town, there are some issues with people on the trains that drive me batty. And 2 of those issues happened to me today within about 5 minutes as I was headed home from work.

So consider this kind of a PSA about subway etiquette....I'm sure I'll be adding to it throughout the days and months, but lets start with these two.

1. I don't need to hear your conversation. Do you hear me, LaQualia (common spelling)? Here I am, sitting down, trying to listen to The All-American Rejects on my iPod, but no, I've got LaQualia complaining to her ghetto-ass friends about how Rodney was fronting on someone's sista last night outside The Quail or something...and she's gotta be nice and loud so we can all hear about her struggles with her man and how if Shaqwana (common spelling) keeps working her patience, she's gonna have to slap her "n-word face."

Seriously? SERIOUSLY?!?! Shut up....shut up LaQualia. No one cares, and no one wants to hear it. Also, no one wants to look at your gold tooth, but thats a whole other complaint.

2. Since I get off work between 6 and 63opm every day, the A train is usually crowded with folks heading home and its very hard to get a seat as we make our way up town. I get on at 59th Street..the stops that follow are 125th, 145th, 168th, 175th, 181st, 190th, 200th, and finally 207th, where I get off. So when I get on the train, I usually go stand in the middle and angle myself to where I will be able to get a seat after the first couple of stops.

Now I like to think my mother raised me right, and 99.9 percent of the time if there's someone also waiting for the seat that probably could use it more than I, I'm more than happy to cede it to them. I'll even get up from my chair if someone who needs a seat gets on after I've snagged one.

But here's the deal. Here's who, in my mind, deserves a seat more than me after a hard day's work.

1. an elderly person

2. a pregnant woman

3. a child under the age of 6 who wants to sit next to their parent

That's it. That's the list. And I'll tell you, I've had many a daggering glance thrown at me by young women after I've stepped in front of them or around them to grab a seat instead of them.

Here's the deal ladies, and I mean this in the best way possible. I have all the respect in the world for you. I believe in your right to equal pay. Your right to bear a child, or abort one. You should be treated like a man.

And since I feel you are equal to men, you are genderless in my eyes, therefore, if I get the seat and you don't.....tough shit. Better luck next time. And save me the dirty looks. It's not my fault you weren't quick enough to step around the homeless guy and snag the seat next to the old woman who went crazy with the perfume today and looks as if Protestantism is springing from her womb. You should always get the seat before me. I'm overweight and have a terrible sense of balance sometimes. I'm several small steps away from being about as coordinated as Corky from Life Goes On. So what does that say about your seat-snagging skills that I got the chair?

Back to the drawing board for you, LaQualia (common spelling)

Hugs

Mike

April Showers...

2009-04-20T19:46:00.011-04:00

...bring more blog posts.

Its pouring rain here today....one day after it was 75 degrees. Christ I hate the East Coast for spring. Its just a never knowing game of "what's it gonna be like today" Though I shouldn't complain, cause we're only about six weeks away from "f'in' stinkin' hot and humid." So I take it all back.

We've had lots go on since the last posting...i.e. since Wake Forest got dumped in the NCAA Tourney and I gleefully poked fun at Katie Neal (though I think she got the last laugh by posting pictures of my pathetic attempt at an Eiffel Tower during a mean game of Cranium...I thought those pictures had been lost for eternity...darn it all)

Anyways, lets start with Sister Jen's visit several weeks back. Jen came out for a few days, and while we didn't hit it too hard, we managed to pack in more than enough stuff to do.

We started by going to see Exit the King on Broadway with Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon. It was really good, and Sister Jen managed to stay awake for it despite getting minimal sleep on the plane and the night before, considering we dragged her there just 2 hours after she got to our house.

In fact, I was the one who managed to fall asleep on the way home.

Funny thing about that day...as we were walking back to the train, we saw a large gathering of people waiting outside a hotel in Midtown for something. We thought it was the auditions for "America's Got Talent," so we walked over to see what was going on...Jen said she saw smoke coming from somewhere, and then all these people started screaming and running. We thought they must have seen someone famous, so we said "whatever" and walked away. The next day we learned it was the auditions for "America's Next Top Model," someone had seen a smoking car and yelled "bomb!" and then there were hundreds of high-heeled models dashing for cover.

Sister Jen got introduced to our friends James, Laura and Andy, and their friend Rob was in town as well, so a large group of us went out to dinner, and then we ALL got introduced to the movie Andy starred in when he was in college. It was a college project and it is, without a doubt, a mind trip. I plan to show it to everyone who shows up here to visit now. Its that good.

Anyways, Andy was a good sport about it.

Jen also decided to go crazy and get some rice pudding one night. I don't know why...how can my wife like rice pudding? It looks awful, it has the consistency of maggots in pudding...its just wrong. Anyways, she liked it...c'est la vie.

We also took in the Letterman show, got some good pizza at Lombardi's, Sister Jen and I caught "The Daily Show" one day, The Jen's got some Century 21 shopping in, all in all, a great visit from Sister Jen!!

A few days after that, Jen and I went to the Kings-Knicks game at MSG. I can't name more than 4 Kings players these days, and Jen was lucky to name one (Kevin Martin). We decided it would be fun to go to, despite my paying attention to the NBA these days involves my one fantasy basketball league, which I somehow managed to win actually, so while I knew the Kings were God-awful these days, I didn't think they could be much worse than the Knicks, who are really really mediocre.

Somehow the Kings raced out to a 15-zip lead, were up by like 37 points at one point, one won by 27. Unbelievable?! This is the team that had the worst record in the NBA? Really? The Kings looked like world-beaters. Hopefully the team is much better next season.

Anyways, Jen's favorite part of the game was watching Anthony Anderson from Law and Order sitting front row doing Michael Jackson dances during timeouts late in the game. Spinning on his head and everything. Sadly, no shots of that, but here's a couple from The Garden.

We've also managed to keep exploring new neighborhoods. Grabbed some dinner with my co-worker Jen and her boyfriend Jon and other co-worker Jim and his wife Heidi in Jen's neighborhood of Hoboken. Actually found some good Mexican food there.

Also took time to go to Queens to meet up with Jen's co-worker Mario, his wife Michelle, and their newborn daughter Mia.

Finally, loyal blog readers know that Jen and I play trivia at the Piper's Kilt, our local bar in the hood, on Tuesday nights. This season we joined up with James, Laura, Andy, and fellow friends Jon, Liz and Nick to form the team "Impeach Mayor McCheese." We'd been finishing middle of the pack or so, but Mike Bowe (the bar director who runs the trivia night) is a good friend of ours, and he asked me to host the trivia night one night.

To be the host at trivia night, you have to be funny, charming and amusing, all while keeping it fun, but also keeping it moving. You have to be able to think on your feet. Sadly, I am non of these, but I am a ham, so I ended up doing it, and it was a lot of fun. And amazingly, "Impeach Mayor McCheese" actually came in first place that night! I know....unbelievable. You would think we were working out of the Katie Neal authored "It Aint' Cheatin' If You Don't Get Caught" rulebook, but I actually didn't help them cheat...though I did give Jen one answer.. =)

Besides my team made more fun of me hosting then anybody else! They, like me, are a bunch of smart-asses, and apparently Laura had made signs up earlier in the day to heckle me with. Five of them in big bold letters...I wish I had them still, but they read,

"NOT FUNNY"

"GO BACK TO CANADA"

"HURRY THE FUCK UP"

"YOU'RE DRUNK"

and of course...

"WE'VE BEEN MISLED"

(in reference to the famous misled radio incident on 1240 in Sac)

All in good fun, I suppose...I can't wait for them to host something.... ;)

Mike Bowe and the host

Some of my "McCheese" team and their MEAN signs!

Anyways, there's been other stuff that either didn't warrant pictures at the time, or I'm forgetting (which is more likely the case). We had a great time in California and Jen or I will get that blog done soon....but tomorrow begins the unpacking...our stuff arrives from California tomorrow, and we're super excited. Expect a blog posting over the weekend regarding our trip, and then one more when we get everything set up in our apartment and such!!

Toodles

Mike

The Neal's March Goes Mad

2009-03-21T08:22:00.006-04:00

I'm not gonna lie...this post is completely for antagonizing purposes...

When Jen and I got to spend part of the holiday season with Brian and Katie Neal, we saw them right after what was, at the time, the biggest college basketball upset of the season...Brian's beloved Syracuse Orangemen had been dumped by little known Cleveland State...CLEVELAND STATE!!!!

There isn't a person in the world not affiliated with that college that even knew Cleveland State EXISTED!!

Of course, myself and Brian's other friends gave him all kinds of grief that night we saw him...wondering how it was possible the Orange could get dumped by a team like the Vikings (and yes, I had to look up their mascot...thanks Google)

NOW, fast forward three months, and as the brackets for the NCAA Tournament came out, I gave them a glance and noticed that Cleveland State had made the tournament as a 13 seed and would be facing....Wake Forest...otherwise known as the collegiate home of one Katie Neal...

Katie's very conflicted when it comes to her college hoops to begin with...she wants to root for the Demon Deacons since she went there, but she also wants to root for Kentucky, since she grew up in the Bluegrass State...it all came to a head several years ago when we had a NCAA hoops/Easter Egg painting party at 590 Ark Way that featured Wake and Kentucky playing on different channels and Katie showed up with a Kentucky T-shirt and a Wake Forest sweatshirt, and kept pulling the sweatshirt off and on depending on which game we were watching...

Anyways, I had the huge urge to text the Neals and ask them if they were prepared to have Cleveland State break their hearts for the 2nd time in 3 months...and since Kentucky couldn't muster the strength to get into the Big Dance this year, you know Katie was gonna be riding Wake all the way....and why not? This was a team that was number one in the country a few weeks back...

I will repeat that...

THIS WAS A TEAM THAT WAS RANKED NUMBER ONE IN THE COUNTRY A FEW WEEKS BACK...

They had stumbled a bit since then, but few people figured they'd have problems with Cleveland State...

well....

CLEVELAND STATE 84 WAKE FOREST 69

We probably should have seen this coming. Cleveland State had a history in the NCAA Tournament of pulling the upset. It was back in 1986 when, as a 14 seed, they beat heavily favored Indiana and followed it up with a win over St. Joseph's to make the Sweet 16...

Still though...needless to say, if any future Neal children express an interest in going to Cleveland State to further their education, they'll be shipped off to Somalia for hard labor instead...

Mike

Random Thoughts: March Edition

2009-03-11T19:55:00.006-04:00

Random Thoughts While Trying To Figure Out How Canada Lost To Italy In The World Baseball Classic:

-- Actually, lets start right there. How did that happen?!?!? I can't name THREE Italian ball players!!! Mike Piazza didn't even play!!! I can't stop using exclamation points!!!! I know the WBC is basically glorified spring training, and the Canadian pitching staff is so bad, I'm fairly certain I was the last man left off the roster, but still....sad day for Canada...

-- A great day for Canada was when they announced that Jillian will be the next Bachelorette. I thoroughly enjoyed watching her romp through this past season of "The Bachelor" with her kickin' Canadian accent. Saying things like "I would not be a-GAY-anst sharing the Fantasy Suite with Jason" or when she told him about her encounter with OgoPogo in Alberta. Hilarity...

-- By the way, for you Americans, the top 8 words that sound much more fun when said by us Canadians:

8. Process ("PROH-cess")

7. Against (a-GAY-anst")

6. Go ("goo")

5. Organization ("or-gan--EYE-zay-SHUN")

4. Schedule ("SHED-you-ul")

3. About ("ah-boot")

2. Asphalt ("ASH-falt")

1. Kudos ("coooooooo-dooooooooooze")

-- Speaking of "The Bachelor," my fantasy sports addiction took an ugly turn this winter as I got talked into participating in a "Fantasy Bachelor" pool run by one of Jen's co-workers out of Chicago. I don't know whether I'm proud or terrified to say I finished 5th, beat 7 other WOMEN, and dusted Jen, who finished dead last...

-- And finally, much hand-wringing about how The Bachelor ended this season. The final verdict from my end: they're all d-bags...Jason, Molly and now Melissa for deciding "I should probably go home and recover from being dumped on national TV, but instead I'm going to try and extend my 15 minutes of fame even MORE by appearing on Dancing With The Stars" Sorry, Mel-Mel, you lost my sympathy right there...you're all losers...and apparently millions of us around the country, myself included, are as well for tuning in to this glorified speed-dating on heroin show every week...

-- Sister Jen comes this weekend for 5 days!! We're very excited about that!! Things in the works already are a trip to a Broadway show, a Letterman taping next Monday, and DEFINITELY a trip to Grimaldi's in Brooklyn =)

--Speaking of Broadway, Jen and I have had a run on the Great White Way lately. We saw "You're Welcome America," the Will Ferrell as President Bush show, and it was frickin' hilarious. I IMPLORE you to watch the live performance HBO is broadcasting this Saturday...and if you don't have HBO, call your cable company and get it. I laughed for 90 solid minutes, and you'll never be able to think of the term "Western grip" again.

-- Mr. Ferrell was also nice enough to autograph Jen's Playbill afterwards.

-- We also saw "The 39 Steps" last week, which was also excellent. A Hitchcock film with some comedy thrown in as well...very good times...our friend Laura came with us and enjoyed it as well...Broadway is getting a bit better with more plays coming this spring, and I have a feeling we'll be back sooner rather than later...

-- Our trivia team continues to ride the Mother of all roller-coasters. If we've not explained it before, The Transplants (our old team) disbanded before this season with Dawn having to work late and not being able to participate anymore, and us wanting to get rid of the dead (re: "old) weight on the team. So we merged with James, Laura and Andy's team (which was Laura's grand plan all along apparently) and are joined by our friends Jon and Nick..for a team of 7 known as "Impeach Mayor McCheese."....we bottomed out with 49 points two weeks ago...49 points!!!!! Out of 100!!! That's pathetic...then, last night, we had a good night in the music, and suddenly we placed second with 89 points....so we're all over the map...Lord only knows what our score will be next week....

-- There's comedy, there's high comedy, there's transcendent comedy, and then there's pictures of Katie Collins Neal and Brian Neal in their Snuggie (see their blog). Remind me to buy Jen Sweeney a drink the next time I see her for allowing that comedy...whoo boy...

-- And if you're paying attention, the DiMaggio-like streak of me mentioning the Neal-blog continues....I should get royalties, considering we NEVER get plugged...whatever, she's just mad that Kentucky isn't gonna make the NCAA Tournament

-- Random Celebrity sightings in the past few weeks: Geoffrey Rush (in Barnes and Noble near Jen's work), Bob Ley (randomly on the corner of 56th and 9th today as I walked to work), Katie Couric (another elevator encounter at work last Tuesday), Taylor Momsen (at Columbus Circle...I said "Hi Taylor!" to her...I SHOULD have said "what's up Little J?!")

-- As you can see from above, Jen has really taken over what I watch these days. Between Gossip Girl, The Bachelor, 90210, Gray's Anatomy and Private Practice, I'm 50-percent gay at this point unfortunately.....however, I still manage to balance it out with shows like Survivor, Hell's Kitchen, Leverage (I demand you watch that show when it comes back on) and my personal favorite at the moment, "From G's to Gents" on MTV (thanks James and Laura!!)

-- Jen took her first trip into Hoboken, New Jersey last weekend. We went in last Saturday to hang out with my co-worker Jen and her boyfriend Jon at watch the St. Patrick's Day parade in that city. Its an annual tradition for Hoboken, so we watched from the windows as everyone marched down Washington Street...we also got plastered, which is always fun when you don't have to drive home...though riding with the crush of people on the PATH Train back to Manhattan was less than pleasurable....

-- We got in a little bowling action last Monday night....a bunch of Jen's co-workers met downtown to roll a few, and I ended the night on a real positive note by throwing six strikes in a row to finish our last game and end with a score of 201....I should retire after that, but Lord knows I'll be back out there...

-- As everyone knows, dinner parties are Jen's favorite things to do, and we managed to clean the apartment enough to have James, Laura, Andy and Dawn over last Sunday evening. Jen made brisket, which was fantastic....and I tried a new appetizer, which was a huge hit: deep fried pickles. Yep, deep fried pickles. Pulled the recipe out of a Deen Brothers cookbook (shocker there) and they were a huge hit.

-- We can't wait to come home for a variety of reasons, but a HUGE one know is we get to meet Mom and Dad's new golden....following the passing of the Murph Man, we knew it wouldn't be too long before Barb and Jack rescued another golden retriever from Homeward Bound...well, they've adopted a 3-year-old named Wrangler, and from the pictures, he's adorable....

-- I'm sure I'm forgetting other stuff over the last month, which only means I need to get better at posting more often. We'll hope that happens, and we can't wait to see everyone in less than a month!!

Mike

Been A Longtime..

2009-02-22T18:21:00.004-05:00

Hi guys!

Sorry it's been awhile. No real excuse, just fell behind.

So we've done some cool things lately. A few weeks ago we had to take Cooper in for a haircut. His groomer is over by Central Park on the Upper Westside of Manhattan so a couple Saturdays ago we took him on the subway and into the Groomer.

Cooper's not a huge fan of the subway, but he doesn't mind as long as he can stick his head out of his travel bag.

We had about a good 4-5 hours to kill while Cooper was being Groomed so we decided to grab brunch and then head to the Central Park Zoo. We went to the Bronx Zoo a few months ago and loved it. The Central Park Zoo is way smaller, but very adorable. We saw sea lions, penguins, monkeys, red pandas and rain forest birds. It was a cool thing to see and fun to explore. Central Park is HUGE. Every time we go there we see something different. I love it.

Here are the sea lions showing off to the crowds..

And here's Mike asleep on a park bench while I watched the sea lions

We got back to the groomer before Cooper was done so we got to watch them finish him up.. We were such dorks we didn't want him to see us watching him so we were hiding our faces from him.

So that's how we spent the weekend before Valentines Day.

For Valentines Day we went to Barbetta. It was awesome. Barbetta is the oldest restaurant in Manhattan and has a lot of history. It's in an adorable Brownstone and just beautiful inside... There were several different dining rooms all very elegant and romantic. There was a man playing a saxophone in between the dining rooms on the 2nd floor and then on the first floor they had a jazz bland playing swing music. After dinner we had a few dances. It was really fun and felt very New York.

Bonjour Montreal!!

2009-02-02T20:33:00.006-05:00

Mom, this one is for you....hehehe

C'est l'hiver et que les moyens de son temps pour mon père et moi à jet vers la NHL Match Des Etoiles. Cette année, le jeu a été à Montréal, une ville, je n'avais jamais été à l'avant. J'ai donc été définitivement hâte d'arriver à passer quelque temps au Québec, où le français et l'anglais est roi est le retard de l'étape-enfant ne parle.

Papa a pris un vol en retard au début de l'année et a obtenu vendredi matin. Je suis arrivé un peu plus tard dans la journée, baissé mes bagages à l'hôtel, puis nous nous sommes dirigés vers le Centre Bell pour ramasser nos médias pouvoirs et aller vers le lecteur interviews. Voici un aperçu de certains des gars que nous avons passé du temps avec.

Patrick Marleau

Roberto Luongo

Jonathan Toews

Joe Thornton

Henrik Lundqvist

Alexander Ovechkin

Evgeni Malkin

Après cela, nous avons donné des coups de pied dans la ville pour un peu. Certains architecture soignée, à Montréal. Pas tout à fait étrange que tant que la ville de Québec (comme vu dans les photos de Katie Neal's blog), mais toujours très cool.

Samedi nous sommes allés au Des Etoiles pratique le matin et a obtenu à coup de pied dans le Centre Bell. Incroyable de voir toutes les bannières dans les chevrons montrant remporte la Coupe Stanley pour les Canadiens et les retraités, le nombre de gars comme Maurice Richard, Jean Béliveau, Guy Lafleur et Patrick Roy.

Samedi soir, nous sommes allés à la concurrence des compétences, puis nous sommes allés à la barre de saut de papa ancien colocataire Sylvain hockey. Par vieux, je ne veux pas dire l'âge (il a 28) Je veux dire qu'il avait l'habitude de jouer sur de papa dans l'équipe de hockey avant de Roseville, il retourne à Montréal.

De toute façon, nous sommes allés à quatre différents bars et pu voir le centre-ville de Montréal. Amusant de voir mon père sur un lien, n'avait pas vu ça avant. Aussi amusant pour obtenir de lui expliquer ce que la barre est un couguar et autres.

Une grande partie grâce à Sylvain de nous un bon moment samedi soir!

Dimanche, nous avons eu le brunch avec Sylvain, et ensuite à la partie. Tout grand jeu, compte tenu Des Etoiles des jeux peuvent être éruptions ou snoozers. Il a fini par entrer dans les heures supplémentaires, et ensuite en tant OT Luongo et Tim Thomas a fait énorme sauve et il a fini par entrer dans une fusillade. En ce point, la foule était à ses pieds, même avec nous dans la presse, et il a pris fin lorsque Alex Ovechkin a marqué sur Luongo à l'Est une victoire de 12-11.

En passant, félicitations à Montréal pour leur grande foule à la partie. Ils ont apporté la Ole Ole Ole chant, ils ont applaudi à tout moment le droit, est devenu fou quand le vieux Canadiens légendes ont été annoncés à la foule (cette saison est le 100e anniversaire de la franchise des Canadiens) et sont tout ensemble ... c'est fantastique pourquoi ils ne devraient jamais l'hôte du All-Star Game dans les villes qui n'ont pas de hockey de l'histoire (c'est-à-dire d'Atlanta l'année dernière) ... c'est toujours mieux quand son dans une ville qui est une bonne ville de hockey.

Lundi matin nous avons eu un peu de temps pour prendre des photos autour de la ville. Ils ont gelé les maillots de chaque équipe par l'arène, ce qui nous a saisi il ya quelques photos, et également fait en sorte d'obtenir une photo prise avec nos "à froid" les chapeaux des gens à la LNH avait donné à nos médias sac.

Dans l'ensemble, un autre grand voyage. Bon à voir et passer du bon temps avec papa. Pas de All Star jeu la saison prochaine (à cause de Jeux olympiques d'hiver), mais vous pouvez parier que nous allons être de retour en 2011 à la tête quand il à chaud que le hockey lit de Phoenix (oh non).

Now, if anyone doesn't know French, go to Google Translate, and you can copy and paste this entry in and get the English translation...I just did this knowing my mother, who hates Quebec and French Canadiens, would go crazy...Love you Mom!!! =)

Super Bowl Commercials

2009-02-01T23:08:00.002-05:00

So I'm at the bar watching the game with a bunch of football fans and here I am the commercial fan.

So I'm doing this blog from my blackberry while at the bar...

Here's the bar blog...

Loved the Pepsi, Bob Dylan, Will.I.Am commercial comparing the decades then and now.. Good stuff

Also the Doritos. Snow globe commercial... Signs point to yes was a good one.

Budlight had a few strong showings the timely economic cutbacks mtg where a poor sap suggests getting rid of the bud light at department mtgs and gets tossed out the window or the Conan O'Brien in leather chaps and bunny ears was quite fun as well.

As for Budweiser... they brought it!
1)The Clydesdale. Playing fetch. With a stick like the Dalmatian- Adorable!

2) And The There ain't no mountain high enough that will keep the Clydesdale from chasing down Daisy the White Circus Pony-- too cute.

As of the second quarter my favorite commercial so far is the Cheetos commercial, because I have totally had the experience of sitting next to a totally annoying person chatting away on her cell phone and have wished that she would be suddenly attacked pigeons.

As for that Cash into Gold Commercial.. it just made me sad for Ed McMahon, I hate that he's looped in on the same category now as MC hammer. Well hopefully he made enough money to not have his home foreclosed on again.

Anyhow... that's as far as I got w/ the bar blog... what did you all think? What was your favorite?

Having Fun in the Warm California Sun

2009-01-20T22:05:00.008-05:00

I had an amazing quick weekend getaway to California this long weekend. First let me tell you the weather was unbelievable for January. Sure it may be global warming, but it was sunny, 70 and beautiful.. When I left NY the high was 10 degrees and the wind chill made it feel 10 below. It was awful. Awfully horribly cold!

So what brought me West? My long time fabulous friend Kelly is pregnant, 8 months pregnant with a baby girl and I just had to see her pregnant! I've known Kel since 6th grade, we met at space camp in Huntsville, AL. 20 yrs ago. Week long trips to space camp were common for Sacramento area sixth graders. That's clearly no longer the case. Now obviously neither of us went on to be astronauts but we did go on to be wonderful friends and I didn't want to miss seeing her at this milestone moment. The beautiful weather was just a perk!

I got to spend 2 full days in Sacramento which allowed me time to see a good amount of friends.
Met college sorority sisters for lunch, the one in green is Christina, my big sis from the sorority drove all the way down from Chico for the lunch, isn't she the sweetest? She is a new mommy too!! She went home with a pink "I love NY onesie!" :)

Afterwards I met up with Ryn and Dan before mtg Kelly for a girly manicure session.
Then we met high school friends Jill and Meghan plus Carolyn for dinner.
Jill's a new Mommy too... Won't lil Parker be adorable in this?
I also got to spend some quality time with my in-laws while I stayed under their Roseville roof... It was an amazing weekend even though my sister-in-law (not pictured) stole my bed that I left there for us to sleep in on visits back since we weren't able to take it to NY.. She was in town too because it was Mike's dad's bday weekend. Happy birthday Jack!

On Monday, I drove back into San Francisco. My wonderfully generous and thoughtful sister let me borrow her car for the weekend. I had flown into SFO on Saturday morning and drove straight from there to the shower in Lincoln. Becca had picked me up, took me to Peets coffee, wrapped Kelly's presents while I changed clothes and put on makeup and then sent me on my way with her car. Isn't she the BEST???
So back to Monday. On Monday I drove back into San Francisco. It was by far the sunniest day in SF ever! It was beautiful and clear and sunny!!
I met up w/ Becca and Mark, Katie, and Michelle for lunch in the Marina area. It was great! I hadn't seen Michelle in 2 years or so and it was so nice to catch up! We had worked together about 8 yrs ago back in my Fox 40 days.
Afterwards, Katie and I shopped around and enjoyed the sun and then later that evening Bec,

Katie and I went to Tea! Complete with petit fours and finger sandwiches. It was adorable!!
Anyhow, I had such an amazing weekend. It was so nice to have some much needed girl time. I miss my girls!!!

And good news, we've already booked our next trip back to Cali and this time both Mike and Cooper will be coming. AND we'll be in both the Sacramento area AND the L.A. Area!The 3 of us all have our tickets! We'll be in Sac 4/3-4/8 and LA 4/8-4/13.
On that note stay tuned for a rant coming on why I feel that dogs should be able to Collect Airline reward "miles.". Cooper's airfare is as high as ours and he doesn't even get a seat he has to fly in a bag at our feet! Ridiculous right? But I guess that's the price of a jet set pet!

XOXO
Jen

Eating Like THE KING!!!

2009-01-12T20:30:00.007-05:00

So most people know that one of my favorite foods, if not THE favorite, is peanut butter. I love it. Its wonderful. Peanut butter cookies, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and OF COURSE, peanut butter and chocolate (Reeses peanut butter cups are EASILY my favorite candy). My Mom knows of all the times I came home to eat lunch with a loaf of French bread, cut it up, and covered it in butter and peanut butter...

Oh man, I think all the blood just rushed from my head writing that sentence...hang on...

Anyways, peanut butter, as Jason from the "Bachelor" would say, is "amazing." (fun digression: That should be the new drinking game...do a shot every time Jason says someone or something is "amazing" on that show. You'll be under the table within 45 minutes). And by the way, I'm somehow involved in a "Fantasy Bachelor" game with Jen and a bunch of other women from ABC and elsewhere...we had to pick who gets voted off each week, all the way down to the final, and I studied the "this season, on "The Bachelor" clips like it was the Zapruder film as I made my picks...but this is a whole other post altogether...where was I again? Ah yes...

So when Jen told me there was a whole restaurant that focused on different kinds of peanut butter sandwiches, I told her we had to go...

So we went a couple of weekends ago, and I immediately locked on to a sandwich called "The Elvis".....it was a peanut butter, honey and banana sandwich...grilled.

Now I know what you are thinking..."Holy #^&@$!! How could it possibly get better?" And Jen ordered one just like that....BUT I, on the other hand, knew something was missing. There was only one possible ingredient that could make a sandwich like that even more delightful and disgustingly bad for you....that's right people, for one dollar extra, you could add BACON to the sandwich...

so to recap...peanut butter, honey, bananas, and bacon...grilled...

your heart just stops writing that sentence...

I ordered the extra bacon for my sandwich, told the waitress to dial 9-1 and keep her finger on the 1 just in case, and chowed down....holy crap it was delicious....its no wonder Elvis died a fat man full of grease....I could eat those things every day...granted I'd be 700 pounds by the end of the year, but what a way to go...

Anyways, we'll be going back at some point (definitely when either Mike or Dave or both get back here) but it'll have to be awhile, because I'm fairly sure my arteries need a break...

Here's some pics from the trip....not pictured is the defibrillator I had on standby.... =)

Mike

Rambling Through the Holidays...

2008-12-29T21:19:00.009-05:00

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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"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!

2008-12-20T15:10:00.009-05:00

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!

2008-12-20T14:48:00.005-05:00

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!)

2008-12-10T23:14:00.002-05:00

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

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T14:50:00.001-05:00

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It's Cold, but we have Friends

2008-11-19T21:29:00.006-05:00

It was 27 degrees this morning when I was walking to work. It's cold, like crazy cold and it's only November. The farmers almanac said it would snow early and be a cold winter and those farmers were right. While you Californians basks in 70-80 degree weather, we are freezing.

It was so cold last night that when I was walking to the subway after work the inside of my nose burned.

Anyhow, fall was beautiful this year. All the leaves were beautiful! Now they are all gone, but last week they started putting beautiful white lights on every tree in the city it seems like. Its so pretty and magical. I don't think the excitement of seeing the white lights will ever get old.

Anyhow, this year I feel more prepared for the cold. I have all my hats, scarves, gloves, uggs, rain boots, snow boots and jackets. Well, I want to get one more wool coat like one that goes to my knees instead of my ankles for days when its over 25 degrees.

Anyhow, we've had a fun couple of weeks. The week before last we got to see 3 friends from California in one week!! Everyone seems to make it to NY eventually and we love seeing them when they get here.

My friend Allison from college was here while her husband was running in the NYC marathon. The 4 of us were able to grab dinner the night before the race.

And then Katie was in town for business.. The following Wed. we were able to have dinner with her.

And then Jen Sweeney came and stayed with us for a few days. We had a great time. One of the highlights was seeing American Buffalo on Broadway. It was starring Haley Joel Osment, Cedric the Entertainer, and John Leguizamo.

All in all it's been fun. We're not able to make it home for Thanksgiving this year. Mike has to work. I got the day off though. Right now our plan is to get up super early and head with our new folding chairs down to the Upper West Side and grab seats along the parade route. Then Mike will go into work and I will go home and make side dishes.

Our friends in the neighborhood, James and Laura, are having us over for Turkey dinner. The next morning we will get up early, pick up our rental car and head to Canada!!!

We're going to spend a couple of days with Mike's grandmother in Kingston, Ontario. It should be really cold there!!

RIP Murphy

2008-11-10T12:53:00.003-05:00

Friday night, I got the call no one ever wants to get...it was my Mom...Murphy wasn't doing well...they were at the vet...and they were going to have to put him down....two hours later, I called back....he was gone...

Needless to say, I lost it. The Watts family are dog people, and we had just lost a family member. Everyone was devastated. I was really upset I couldn't be back there to see the boy one more time. It was awful....

When we got Murphy in 2002 a few months after Rusty (our first golden retriever) had passed away, I remember being angry. No dog was going to be able to replace Rusty, and I was mad my mother had gone out to get a rescue dog that couldn't possibly measure up. I told here, "I'm going over to your house, but I'm not going to like this dog."

So I stopped by while the parents were at work and met Murphy for the first time. He was a mess, all ratty and scabbed, because he had been on the streets before the rescue group got him, and he smelled to high-heaven. But, there was something about him. He was all about playing with the tennis balls, and all he wanted to be was loved....after an hour, I called my Mom and told her "Dammit, its awful hard not to like this dog."

And that was that...Murphy became part of the family. He was a great dog. He was obedient. He was gentle. He put up with just about anything. All he ever wanted was for you to play ball with him. He'd drop the ball in your lap, or near you...and then walk away and stare at you until you threw it...some people would be a little thrown by the intensity of the stare...he just REALLY wanted to play ball...

I'll remember lots of stories and quirks about Murph, but here are a few:

-- When I was substitute teaching, I would stop by my parent's place in Roseville to see Murphy on my longer breaks...and I always gave him a cookie...this quickly became a routine for him, and in fact, whenever he saw me, he'd get up, greet me QUICKLY, and then run over to the cookie jar and look at me....some spoiled dog, eh???

-- Murphy never barked at anyone, in fact I never saw him get upset at anything, except just once. Jen and I had just got Cooper in November of '04, and we took him over to my folks house for Christmas that year...Murphy had got a rawhide treat in his stocking and he was chewing it in the family room, and Cooper decided to investigate...well, he got as far as Murpy's nose, and Murph unleashed several large barks at Coop, sending him scurrying for Jen...you could do a lot to Murphy, but you weren't allowed near his rawhide...

-- And Cooper did beat up a bunch on poor Murphy. Watching the two of them together was like watching the two dogs from the old Bugs Bunny cartoons....Cooper with all the crazy energy, and Murphy the wise one putting up with it all...Cooper would jump on Murph's head, fight him over tennis balls, chew on his tail, and basically bounce all over him, and Murphy would just put up with it with a slight sigh...such a good boy....

I'll miss that dog so much...I can't imagine coming back to my parent's house in April and him not being there...anyways, I can't write much more without breaking down again, so here's a video that pretty much sums up my feelings at the moment....Goodbye Murph, you were the best dog.

Mike

Election Ramblings

2008-11-05T17:09:00.003-05:00

America made history last night....congratulations to those who took part..now go pay your back taxes...

In short, a quick ramblings regarding Election Day...

-- wait, the voting thing was Tuesday? Why didn't someone say anything?

-- I can't be the only one that hoped for Barack Obama to hit the stage for his victory speech and then yell, "Hey, where are the white women at??!!" I know Dave and Mike were hoping for that as well...

-- I missed this, but CNN apparently had a thing on their coverage where a woman was appearing on the set "via hologram." Like they literally beamed her image in there....this is the future...I'd like to be beamed "via hologram" into work next week, frankly...

-- So Obama wins, and Prop 8 in California passes...as does similar props in Arizona and Florida....so as Jen succinctly put it earlier today "America isn't racist...just homophobic."

-- Speaking of California, its now hitting me that I spent 22 years of my life in a state that is governed by an action movie hero and a city that now has a former NBA point guard as its mayor. Read that last sentence again.

-- Flipping around election coverage last night, watching Fox was laughable...they were absolutely the LAST ones to call ANY state that other networks were calling for Obama...in fact, when everyone else had called the Presidency for Barack, I think Fox still had him with 85 electoral votes...but no bias there...no sirree...

-- And I thought California was bad, but Minnesota now needs a recount to see if they voted a comedian into office for the U.S. Senate? Really? Wasn't this a Robin Williams movie last year....

-- No McCain victory means no Palin vice-presidency, which means no Tina Fey sketches for 4 more years, which makes me a sad panda...

-- The biggest outrage of Election Day? Jen not getting an "I Voted" sticker after she cast her ballot. I haven't seen her that sad since I was forced to tell her that "The Hills" is entirely fabricated...

Mike

Long Time No Bolg Part 2- Mike's Bday

2008-11-01T11:25:00.008-04:00

Disclaimer: For those of you (Barb) who complain when we do back to back posts-- this disclaimer is for you... Scroll down... This blog has just been updated twice! :)

On October 23rd Mike turned 32! He's getting to be old. I'm still in my twenties! Hehe- at least I will be for the next few months anyhow... but back to Mike. His birthday was on a Thursday and we both took Friday off. We were going to spend a couple days with Will and Jen in Connecticut. We were going to catch a train from Grand Central after work on Thursday so on Wednesday I got Mike an Ice cream Cake so he could have some birthday fun while he opened up his presents from Cooper and I.

Cooper got him a new winter coat so he could stay warm and dry while he took him on walks. Isn't Cooper thoughtful!!! Anyhow, I got Mike a new sweater and a rugby shirt... As he where's them in photos I'll caption them so you know.

Ever since Cooper had his 1st birthday party he has had a complex-- he thinks that all presents are for him and that he MUST help take off wrapping paper --- as you can see in this photo.

Anyhow, Mike had a nice pre-birthday evening on Wednesday. Thursday it was off to work!! I took a small suitcase with me to work that had both of our belongings in for the next couple of days. Mike raced back to our apartment after he was done working and picked up Cooper and we met at Grand Central Station. We took a Metro North Train to New Haven, CT where Will and Jen picked us up and then we drove to their place in Farmington. This was Cooper's first time in Connecticut!

Anyhow, for those of you don't know Will and Jen- They are good friends of ours from Sacramento. Will used to work at News10 with me and he and Mike became fast friends as did Jen and I. An interesting note about Will and Jen: We've had meals together in 4 states!! California -obviously, Atlanta- Will had just started working at CNN when Mike and I got married- so sadly they weren't able to come to our wedding. When we flew to Jamaica for our honeymoon we had a 3 hour layover in Atlanta... Coincidentally, Jen was flying into the Atlanta Airport at almost the same time... SO the 4 of us had breakfast together at the airport. AND since we've been East Coasters - all of us moving here around the same time-- we've eaten out together a few times in both NY and CT- Anyhow - that's not something you can say for most friends!

SO we had a great time hanging out with them in Connecticut. Ever since i was a little kid I have always had a fantasy about living in Connecticut. It stems from the open to "Who's the Boss" Remember that show? Well, in the show open it always showed beautiful houses surrounded by tons of fallen leaves and trees that looked as if they were painted by a sunset. It was beautiful and Connecticut did not disappoint... it was BEAUTIFUL!!!

(this is the Rugby shirt that was one of mikes presents)

We got back late Saturday from CT... Will was working the night shift so that's why the visit was just for Thursday and Friday nights.

ON Sunday we had a few friends over. Mike recently bought a Nintendo Wii and he wanted to play some of his new games with some friends.. SO we had an Open House play date type of thing.. i made meatballs, cocktail hot dogs in puffed pastry, chili cheese dip and we had lots of adult beverages on hand. It was good times!

The interesting thing about the Wii is that it's motion activated. you have to move your hands and the controllers as if you were swinging a bat or driving a car or as this photo shows... Sweeping a curling stone down the ice.. Mike and Chris had a great time playing this game! And we all had a great time watching them.. It was too funny. Coincidentally Mike and Chris were born on the same day and the same year!!! We're not sure about time of day-- but isn't that funny? 10/23/76!

Anyhow Happy Birthday to Mike and Happy Birthday to Chris!!

Long Time No Bolg Part 1- Becca's Visit

2008-11-01T10:00:00.010-04:00

HI Everyone!!!

SO I have a lot of catching up to do!

Let's see where to begin... A couple weeks ago

Becca was here and we had an amazing time!!! I LOVE it when she visits. We went to the Daily Show taping, wandered around my neighborhood and park (which Cooper loved), Saw Speed The Plow with Jeremy Piven- Great show.

Funny story actually about that.. So, Jeremy Piven is known best for his role as Ari Gold in Entourage. One of his characters catch phrases is "Hug it out." Well, when Kelli and Meghan were in town we took the "Sex and the City" tour. The tour ended- as most tours do- in a gift shop. BUT this was the HBO store gift shop. So I bought Cooper a Doggie t-shirt that said "Hug it out Bitch"

Now fast forward to Becca's visit.. after we see speed the plow we line up by the stage door to try and get Jeremy Pivens autograph...Everyone was standing there w/ playbills and posters and i had Coopers Dog shirt ready for a sharpy so Piven could sign it... but ALAS Piven was sick and didn't come out to meet the fans... but don fear... i have every intention of heading back over there some night soon, so I can get Cooper's shirt signed!!! While we didn't get to see Jeremy Piven, the other 2 stars (Elisabeth Moss and Raul Esparza) came out and met with fans and signed autographs. Per Elisabeth- who was incredibly sweet, Piven was really sick. IN fact the show started 30 minutes late because he wasn't feeling so hot.

Other things we did while Becca was here.. Went to Central Park, went to "the My Dog Loves Central Park Dog Fair", went to the Boathouse, went to the Met, had Frozen Hot Chocolate's at Serendipity, went to the infamous Dylans Candy Store- which is pretty much awesome AND we made soup!!! Bec taught me how to make the BEST Butternut Squash soup EVER!!! I'll post the recipe at the bottom of this blog.

CENTRAL PARK

THE MET

THE FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE

Anyhow-- It was a great time! We had so much fun!!!!

Butternut Squash Cider Soup Recipe

**FYI I added a teaspoon of ground ginger-- It was fantastic- - i suggest you do the same!**

Apples and apple cider lend a pleasant sweetness to this beautiful soup.

Servings: Serves 10.

Ingredients

5 tablespoons butter

2 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 6 cups)

2 cups chopped leeks (white and pale green parts only)

1/2 cup chopped peeled carrot

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 small Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried sage leaves

5 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth

1 1/2 cups apple cider

2/3 cup sour cream

1/2 cup whipping cream

Chopped fresh chives

Directions:

Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add squash, leeks, carrot and celery; sauté until slightly softened, about 15 minutes. Mix in apples, thyme and sage. Add stock and 1 cup cider and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until apples are tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Cool slightly. Working in batches, purée soup in blender. Return soup to pan. Boil remaining 1/2 cup cider in heavy small saucepan until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes. Cool. Place sour cream in small bowl. Whisk in reduced cider. (Soup and cider cream can be made 1 day ahead. Cover separately and refrigerate.) Bring soup to simmer. Mix in whipping cream. Ladle soup into bowls. Drizzle with cider cream. Top with chives.

And We're Back!!!

2008-10-21T09:29:00.009-04:00

OK, its been like, what, 3 weeks plus since the last posting on the blog? And while I'm glad we didn't hit the month long streak of non blogging record set by Brian and Katie in recent days (oh lets face it, its just Katie...), its still reprehensible that is has taken me this long to put fingers to keyboard and update ya'll with the goings on in the Watts household....

I blame my schedule in recent weeks. Covering as the producer for The Osgood File is fun, but it basically makes my schedule look like this....up at 1230am, into the office by 2am....work the Osgood shift from 2am to 10am....nap in the office til noon....work by normal shift from 12pm to 6pm...get home by 7pm...eat dinner...say hi to Jen...in bed by 9pm (hopefully) and then up by 1230am and all over again...

And of course, I hate going to bed early, so that 9pm bedtime usually turned into 10pm....and there were several days where the late morning nap didn't happen...I had one stretch of 72 hours where I got sleep in like 7 of those hours....oy...

Amazingly, we were able to do some fun things during this schedule nonsense, and in the days following it as well....so without further ado, here's 9 things that have happened in the past 3 weeks:

-- Singing karaoke at a Mob bar in Brooklyn. So a few weekends back Chris and Shirley had us, Dawn, and their friends Steve and Kelly over for dinner on Staten Island....Shirley teaches yoga now, so Jen, Dawn, and Kelly went to her class, while Steve, Chris and I hung out at the apartment...then after dinner we went to a bar in Brooklyn called Goodfellas....

Now its probably hard to believe that a place with a cheesy name like Goodfellas would actually be a place where Mafia members hang out, but I had been told that there would be made men there, and frankly, they were pretty easy to spot...some of them actually sang...along with those folks, there were other old guys with names like Johnny Sinatra and Mikey Suits who sang Rat Pack songs...

I eventually got up and sang two songs...and while I should have listened to Jen and not sang the first song "I Get A Kick Out of You" (since we already had TWO Sinatras in the house)....but my second song went over much better...."Help Yourself" by Tom Jones (better known by the youngsters as the dream sequence song from "Anchorman")....anyways, I sang, the girls danced, and we brought the house down...

All in all, a good time....can't wait to go back to Goodfellas again soon....

-- The reinvention of our Trivia Night team...most of you know that Jen, Dawn and I play trivia at the Piper's Kilt here in the neighborhood...we usually finished in 5th place every night, week in and week out....occasionally we'd finish 4th...once even 3rd...and that was like we'd won the Super Bowl....

So when the new season started, we reinvented the team a little bit....we had added Kieran, this old guy that I befriended on my first day in town, towards the back end of last trivia season...this season we picked up two people...Lori (who's good with the music, like Dawn)...and her friend Jim (who's good with obscure historical stuff and just about everything else)...

Now, we're unstoppable...we finished FIRST a couple of weeks ago, and then took second last week....we're still a little behind another team known as the Rangers, but they have like 14 people on their team to our 6, so frankly, they should be beating us....but we're holding out hope we can catch them by season's end...

-- Having our friends James and Laura over for dinner a couple of weekends back. James and Laura are friends who we met at trivia months ago, and who live in the neighborhood. We finally had them over for dinner a couple of weekends back, and of course, we busted out the Watts specialty for dinner parties...homemade gnocchi and flank steak....Dawn couldn't make it, and our friend Andy came over for a bit, but then had to rush off for a date...so the four of us had a grand old time....

-- Going to the Bronx Zoo. The day after the dinner party with James and Laura, Jen and I decided to spend a Sunday at the zoo. It was so much fun, we decided to become members for a year...pretty cheap actually, and we can go whenever we want. Cool exhibit on Madagascar, with lemurs, and a couple of Nile crocodiles...and other cool stuff...I could always spend hours at the zoo...

-- Celebrity spotting: A few of the folks we saw wandering around town over the last couple of weeks:

Colin Quinn (corner of 57th and 10th as I was walking to work)

Martin Short (inside Borders at Columbus Circle

Debra Messing and Kelly Ripa (walking outside Columbus Circle)

Lou Dobbs (over by the Time Warner building)

-- My new shift at the top radio station in the country. So when we had the layoffs in the company a while back...one of the guys that got let go was the guy that did weekend news at WABC for us....so we've been filling that hole every weekend, and I've been chosen to cover some of those days over the past six weeks...good exposure for me...we should find out soon whether I get a permanent place on the weekend shift...would mean six day work weeks, but I'll take it for the opportunity to be on WABC.

-- Going to see "W" last weekend....it was good...wasn't great. Josh Brolin does a really good job playing George W. Bush, though...he's head and shoulders above everybody else in that movie...you should see it just for him...

-- Going to see "The Daily Show" last Thursday. Jen was able to get tickets for us and her sister Becca, who came into town on Thursday, and was with us til Sunday. I got the afternoon off, and we went to the taping. Jon Stewart was awesome...very funny. I'm glad we got to see the show immediately after the last presidential debate, made it even funnier...can't wait to go see the show again...good times...

-- Hitting Broadway Friday night with the girls. Jen, Becca, Dawn and I all went to see Speed-The-Plow on Broadway, starring Jeremy Piven, Raul Esparza and Elisabeth Moss (from Mad Men)...its still in previews, and it actually started 30 minutes late, we're guessing because Piven was sick ( he looked a little dragged, and he didn't sign autographs after the show like the others, who told us he was sick), but it was still an AWESOME show....

It's been a busy three weeks...and more to come. My birthday is Thursday, and we're headed to Connecticut for a couple of days to celebrate it with Will and Jen Selva....which is always fun....

So hope everyone is well, and we promise not to drag so much in between posts...

Mike

J-E-T-S Brett! Brett! Brett!

2008-09-29T20:34:00.007-04:00

I couldn't do it...I just couldn't do it...

When we lasted visited me talking about Brett Favre, I spewed so much hate and vitriol towards good ol' number 4, I probably fast-tracked my ticket to hell...

But I was bitter, I was lashing out....and I knew that when push came to shove, I would fold like a cheap suit...

So when Sunday rolled around and Jen and I were getting ready to go to the Jets-Cardinals game at the Meadowlands, Jen suggested that I wear my Favre Packers jersey.

I had planned to boo the crap out of Brett, but as soon as I pulled the jersey on, we all knew that wasn't going to happen...

So we went to the game, and while we were waiting to get in, the NFL Network pulled Jen and I aside and told us they were filming people talking about the most exciting NFL moment they'd ever seen.

Well I signed up immediately. Because I knew the story I was going to tell. The one about how I was on the sidelines when the 49ers stole...yep, STOLE a game from the Packers...1999...playoffs...at the Stick...late in the game, Pack is up, and Jerry Rice fumbles the ball...yep, FUMBLES THE BALL...only the refs don't call it, the Niners keep the ball, and Steve Young hits a young Terrell Owens in the end zone to win the game for SF...

Tough moment for me, but still a great NFL moment. Anyways, they videotaped me telling the story...they're going to pick like the top 50 and put them up on NFL.com...if it goes up, I'll let everyone know...

So we got inside and got to our seats (right on the 40 yard line...perfect) and then watched the Air Show take off....I was immediately rooting for the Jets, and made a few friends in the section who thought it was cool that I'd be rooting for number 4 even those he isn't playing for the Pack...

Most know by now...Favre threw for 6....SIX touchdowns....and no one was cheering louder than I was...

So I'm a hypocrite...I admit it....but I'm rooting for Number 4 this year...even though he's not on my team anymore....

So...better get used to hearing this.....

J---E---T---S---Brett! Brett! BRETT!!!!

Mike

Mom & Dad Weiss' NYC Visit

2008-09-25T23:02:00.012-04:00

We had a wonderful time with my parents! We had a great visit. I took the picture of them above in Brooklyn standing under the bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge, the east river, and the Manhattan skyline is behind them. That area is known as DUMBO. Down Under the Manhattan Brooklyn Bridge Over Crossing. There's your lesson for the day. :)

I took them over to my work.. here they are on the News set. My desk is just to the left of the the set behind the glass.

We took them to Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem. Here we are standing outside...

They toured the city on a double-decker bus for 2 days. Now they know more about the city then we do!!!

On Saturday morning they took Mike and I on the Brooklyn tour with them. Afterwards we had Grimaldi's Pizza.

Another thing they did while they were being New York Tourists... They went to Ellis Island. Ellis Island is where Immigrants arrived before being granted entrance into the United States. My Grandfather , My Dad's dad immigrated this way. Ellis Island is now a museum where you can look up old manifests and discover all the details of how your relatives came to this country.

My parents were able to find my Grandfather Sam Weiss. He came over a ship called the Roon in 1909. He was only 13 years old , but he told them he was 15. You had to be 15 in order to come by yourself. We learned his height, weight, eye color, ethnicity and even how much money he had on him. He also had to give them his Occupation. He was a barrel maker also known as a Cooper. That's right, in the ships manifest it lists his occupation as a Cooper.

In 1950, Sam Weiss along with his wife and 2 kids (my Dad and my Uncle Art) all moved out west to California and then Arizona.

My Grandfather died before I was born.

Who could of have imagined, almost 100 years later, his granddaughter would move back to New York City with a dog named Cooper and live on Cooper street.

It kind of gives you chills, huh?

Ironically, Mike's sister named Cooper. I guess it was fate that I met and married Mike.

xoxo

Jen

One Year Ago Today (A Jen Post)

2008-09-16T16:24:00.003-04:00

One year ago today I moved to NYC… I flew out here scared, intimidated and by myself. I had to start my new job and find an apartment. Wow how time flies…. I never thought I'd know my way around, learn how to do my job or even make friends. A couple weeks later I found a place to live and Mike and Cooper moved out and slowly but surely we've learned the lay of the land and had an amazing time doing it.

Anyhow, just felt like reflecting- Wow- 1 year! I wonder how many more years we'll have in this Crazy City?

On another note,

Guess who decided to make a last minute visit to NYC???

My Parents!

They called on Sunday asked what we were doing next weekend then booked their tickets. They fly in tomorrow- Wednesday!

We are sooooooooooo excited!

Here's how they plan on spending their time here

Wednesday

Arrive at 7:30pm- We'll have dinner up in our neighborhood- probably order in- My dad loves the Chinese food place n our street.

Thursday
Mike and I have to work and Mom & Dad will take a double-decker bus tour of the city http://www.coachusa.com/newyorksightseeing/

Cooper guards the house

Friday
Mike and I have to work and Mom & Dad will tour the Natural History Museum and re-visit spots from their tour on Thursday that they would have liked to spend more time at.

Cooper guards the house

For Dinner we're going to the best BBQ in the city - Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem- It's awesome http://www.dinosaurbarbque.com/

Saturday

We'll have breakfast somewhere fun on the Upper Westside

Then we'll head to Brooklyn! We'll walk across the Brooklyn Bridge -its a really fun activity- It will be the 3rd time I've done it.

We'll have NY's Best Pizza - Grimaldi's - It's awesome http://www.grimaldis.com/

Then we'll have a cab take us to the hospital my dad was born at and the apartment he lived in when he was just a baby before his fam moved out west.

Cooper guards the house

Then we'll had back to my hood- because I'm sure we'll be exhausted.

Sunday

We're renting a car and heading to the Hampton's for the day

Cooper gets to come play!

Monday

They Fly home with wonderful memories of their spontaneous trip to NYC

Long Time No Blog --A Jen Post

2008-09-11T22:15:00.010-04:00

Hi Guys!

It's been awhile since I've blogged.. many apologies!

I had an amazing experience at the DNC in Denver. I really felt like I was a part of history.

While I was in Denver, Mike got in touch w/ my boss and got me the Monday after our anniversary off and planned a surprise trip. All I knew was we were renting a car, Cooper got to come, and we were leaving Saturday morning.

Or actual anniversary was on Thursday. 3 years! Can you believe it? What's even crazier is it's almost been a year that we've lived in NY!

Anyhow, Thursday was our actual anniversary. We both had to work and we had dinner that night at the Boathouse in Central Park. It was beautiful and great food!

That Saturday we left for our trip. We were off to Lake Placid in upstate New York. It was about a 4 hour drive from the city. We drove upstate through the Catskills and ended up in the Adirondacks. (Both are Mountain ranges for those of you west coasters that only know Tahoe)

Lake Placid is best known for hosting the Winter Olympics in 1932 and 1980. I would describe it like Lake Tahoe, but with the charm you find on the streets of Carmel.

We shopped and wandered around main street and toured the Olympic Venue Sites...Here are Mike and Cooper in front of the Olympic Center... this building houses the 1932 and 1980 hockey arenas.... Home of the "Miracle on Ice."

One of the highlights of the trip.. we did the "Bobsled Experience" down the 1980 track. You have a professional driver and break man ride with you, the bobsleds are on wheels in the Summer and Blades in the winter. Think 'Cool Running's.'

These are the Olympic ski jumps.. don't you wonder how this sport came about? Do you think some guys were in a pub one night and said "hey- wouldn't it be cool to build 24 story tall ramp and have skiers do jumps and flips off them?"

We drove up Whiteface Mountain and had a picnic half way up.

At the top of the Mountain there is a castle that you can hike up to the very top. Guess who didn't think he'd need a jacket!?! It was freezing!

This is Cooper the bobsledding dog...

Things I learned on the trip?

Did you know fly fishing doesn't mean that fish fly out of the lake at you? I always thought it meant that fish jumped out of the water and you had to stand on the back of the boat with a net to catch them. Anyhow.. I saw all these fly fishing signs in town and was nervous if we went near the lake fish may attack us. Then Mike told me fly fishing is when people wade into the water to catch fish that way... My vision is way cooler.

Beware of Flying Fish!

xoxo

Jen

It Comes In Threes...

2008-09-03T22:00:00.002-04:00

They say celebrity deaths come in threes. And this past week was no exception as the entertainment/news industry lost three greats. Some people might not consider the three men that passed away "legends," but they were exemplary in their field, in my mind...and deserve praise for their abilities to inform and entertain.

We'll start with Jerry Reed...who is Jerry Reed, many of you ask? Well, Jerry Reed is a country singer probably most famously known for appearing in the "Smokey and the Bandit" movies with Burt Reynolds....one of his most famous songs comes from the soundtrack to that movie. Dave Knight and I always joke about Jerry and this song...and my absolute love for it.

Along with that song, Jerry Reed hit it big with other stuff like "Amos Moses", "When You're Hot, You're Hot", and my favorite, "She Got The Gold Mine, I Got The Shaft."

Younger audiences got to see Jerry perform in the "Waterboy" as the threatening coach that gets his ass kicked by Adam Sandler. All in all, Jerry Reed was a tireless entertainer, and he deserves to be remembered as one of the greats of country music.

The second man to pass away was Don LaFontaine, a man whom most people have always heard, but never seen until recent years. LaFontaine was "the voice of movie trailers," lending his pipes to thousands of movies, TV shows, and commercials. I'd say more, but here's a really good interview with him conducted a few years ago...

And here's where most people finally learned what the guy looked like...probably one of the funniest Geico ads out there.

Poor guy died from complications of a collapsed lung at the age of 68. Movie trailers won't ever sound the same...

The final man who took his final bow in recent days was Ike Pappas, and if you're a newsguy, you know Ike Pappas. Ike was a veteran of CBS News for years, and he most famous "story" came when he was front and center for history in 1963. Ike Pappas was one of several men covering the transport of Lee Harvey Oswald when Jack Ruby opened fire on him. In fact, Ruby actually SHOVED Pappas out of the way and then shot Oswald. Here's his live radio call...unbelievable...

All in all, three great men who deserved to be remembered at the top of their industries...

Mike

Sox Yanks: The Rivalry

2008-08-27T19:15:00.002-04:00

As a baseball fan, I thought I had a good understanding of the rivalry between the Yankees and the Red Sox. I consider myself knowledgeable when it comes to baseball history. I watched the Sox get the monkey off their back in 2004 by coming back from 3-games-to-none to eliminate the Yankees and bring the rivalry to a whole new level.

And I knew when I moved here, that the energy surrounding every Sox-Yanks series would be 20-fold. This week is no exception, as the Red Sox make their final trip to the Bronx before the close of Yankee Stadium.

I knew the energy would be good, so since I couldn't get a ticket to one of the games due to exorbiant StubHub prices, I figured I'd keep a running diary of one of the games. Without further ado:

7:00: We are LIVE from the Watts Palace in Manhattan! I'm joined by Cooper our cocker spaniel, 4 bottles of Labatt Blue Light and a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos (health? bah!). Also, we're joined on the YES Network (yes, the Yankees have their own network) by Michael Kay, Al Leiter and John Flaherty....Jesus...Al Leiter and John Flaherty?? Is it "disappointing MLB career week" at YES this week?

Michael Kay lets us know that the Yankees stunk last night, and that it was mainly Alex Rodriguez's fault...A-Rod struck out twice and grounded into two double plays with runners in scoring position...must've been another late night at Madonna's place.

7:01: Our starters for tonight? Paul Byrd for the Red Sox and Sidney Ponson for the Yankees. Not exactly thrill-inducing.

7:04: Michael Kay says Yankees manager Joe Girardi told him tonight was a must win game if the Yanks have any hope of catching the Red Sox for the wild-card (the Yankees came into the game six games back). Only on a network owned by George Steinbrenner could there be that kind of optimism. Every Yankee fan I know has already given up on this team.

7:08: Batting leadoff for the Red Sox, young Jacoby Ellsbury, who single-handedly killed one of my fantasy baseball teams this season. I say one of them, because I have six fantasy baseball teams this year. Yep, SIX. I have a problem...

7:10: Ellsbury flies out, followed by the pride of Woodland High School, Dustin Pedroia, singling to left. Pedroia is easily the best guy out of the Sacramento area to make it to the pros in 20 years...

7:12: Uh oh, the boo birds are already out at Yankee Stadium. Big Papi just laced a double to right...second and third with one out and Yankee fans are ALREADY shitting on Ponson's performance, which might break the record for the quickest give-up on a starting pitcher.

7:16: Well, Yankee fans really aren't going to like this. Ponson gets Youkilis to strike out, but Mr. Canada Jason Bay laces a liner to left that bounces off Xavier Nady's glove...2-zip Red Sox. Let the booing ensue!!!

7:20: Jed Lowrie walks, leading to a visit from Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland, six batters in. What's Eiland going to say? "Hey fat boy? How about getting some of these $^@$^ out??!" At least that's what I hope he's saying.

7:22: Varitek singles to right, but the Red Sox make a baserunning blunder by running on Bobby Abreu, who guns down Bay at home. Yankees are lucky to be out of that inning.

7:25: Michael Kay tells us that Sox starter Paul Byrd (whose name came up in the Mitchell Report earlier this year) started the season 3 and 10 with Cleveland, but has gone 5-and-1 in the 2nd half, and was traded to Boston a few weeks back. That HGH shipment must have finally arrived.

7:27: Johnny Damon strikes out looking, and then whines to the home plate ump about the call. Reason number 743 to hate the Yankees: their constant whining when things don't go their way. Remember to look for my book "6,732 Reasons to Hate the Yankees" coming out this fall!!

7:31: Jeter lines out, and Abreu walks, bringing up A-Rod, who comes to the plate as "This Is Why I'm Hot" by Mims plays over the loudspeakers...I don't even have a joke here...

Actually I do. If the other teams in the league had any balls, they would absolutely play "Like A Virgin" every time A-Rod came up to bat...I think he'd snap by like the sixth time.

7:33: A-Rod doubles to left, bringing home Abreu to cut the lead to one (of course he does...no pressure in the game at this point.) This is followed by Jason Giambi (still rockin' the 70s' porn moustache) striking out...

7:40: For those who don't know, Yankees starter Sidney Ponson is from Aruba and was actually knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherland in 2003. He celebrated that honor by assaulting an Aruban judge in 2004 over misuse of his powerboat and spent 11 days in jail. Read that last paragraph again. Meanwhile, the Red Sox go down in order in the 2nd. Followed by the Yankees doing the same in their half of the 2nd.

7:58: The Red Sox go quietly in the 3rd, followed by yet ANOTHER version of the Chevy ad with that mind-numbing John Mellencamp song. I'm sorry...could somebody remind me...whose country is this?

"This is ouuurrrrr country!!!"

Got it...thanks.

8:02: Jack Nicholson in the house!! He's behind home plate. Michael Kay bets that Jack's never had a regret in his life. I don't know.."Mars Attacks" might be a regret.

8:10: Tonight's NYS Smokers' Quitline Quiz question: Who is the Red Sox all-time RBI leader at games at Yankee Stadium? I'm guessing its Ted Williams. We'll find out later. I'm usually great at these....

8:14: The announcers discuss Sox catcher Jason Varitek and his impending free agency. The 36-year-old Varitek reportedly wants a 4-year deal, even though he's hitting .226 and is basically "Dead Man Walking" But he's the "captain" of the Red Sox, including the team putting a ridiculous "C" on his uniform, likes he's a hockey player or something. Meanwhile, Flaherty says Varitek is important because he's "great in the clubhouse." What does that mean? Does he walk around telling jokes and handing out mix tapes to his teammates? When Big Papi's in a depressed mood does he do an "Anchorman" impression to cheer him up? I need to know these things. Anyways, right now he flies out to center.

8:18: And the trivia answer is?? TED WILLIAMS!!! I swear, if they ever bring back that sports trivia show on ESPN, I'm FORCING them to put me on it. I need to put this useless information to work!!

8:28: Here come the Yankees. Cano singles in A-Rod and we're tied at two. Its amazing, every time Michael Kay gets excited and gets his voice rising, Cooper sniffs his butt...I don't know what to do with this information. We're tied at 2 headed to the fifth.

8:36: Pedroia executes a perfect hit-and-run, bashing it through the right side as Ellsbury dashes to third. You have to love Pedroia, even if his beard is worse than mine...when I grow a beard, its red while my hair is blonde...it looks like I should be on display at Ripley's...meanwhile, the Sox just loaded the bases for Youkilis....big moment for this game...

8:40: The Arubian Knight walks Youkilis to force in a run. 3-2 Sox. And the live mic outside the announcers booth just picked up the first New York accented "Fuck!" Then Bay hit a sac fly to right, and that's all for Ponson...lets hope he doesn't punch out any Aruban officials tonight...

8:47: Enwar Ramirez is on to pitch for the Yankees and HOLY GOD does this kid look young. This guy doesn't have a pitch count, he's got a curfew. Anyways, he gets Jed Lowrie to ground out to end the inning.

9:02: Kay and Leiter talk about how important the Yankees bullpen is going to be over the next few weeks, especially one days when the starters can't get into the 6th inning. This is a bullpen that features Enwar Ramirez, Chris Britton, and Brian Bruney. Good luck with that, Yankee fans!

9:05: Just saw a preview for Lakeview Terrace. Sam Jackson should just take that Chappelle imitation of him full circle and actually endorse Samuel Jackson Beer...."IT'LL GETCHA DRUNK!! YOU'LL BE $@&%'IN FAT GIRLS IN NO TIME!! MMMM...BITCH!!"

9:13: The Yankees batters seem baffled by Paul Byrd's old-timey windup....they go quietly again in the 6th....but hey, want do you want for a 210-million-dollar payroll? Runs? Timely hitting??

9:17: Enwar Ramirez's mother comes to the mound to get him home before he breaks curfew. In comes Damaso Marte for the Yankees...another desperation pick up by the Yanks at the trading deadline as they try any which way to make the postseason...which isn't happening...

9:24: Seventh inning stretch time, which means everybody at the stadium has to stand and offer a moment of silence for the troops, and then listen to Kate Smith sing "God Bless America." Folks, 9/11 was 7 years ago....we really need to be doing this every night??? Still?? Really?? And of course, since we're on the Yankees network, we're gonna see this live...but that's the fun part, when they show the close up of the Yankees with their caps over their hearts, but you know in their head they're thinking things like "I hope the post-game spread has teriyaki chicken" and "I wonder how many hot chicks I'll be able to pick up at Butter tonight?"

9:27: "The dream is still alive....some day it will come true...and this country it belongs, to folks like me and you....so let the voice of FREEDOM...sing out through this land....this is ouuuuuuuurrr country."

Its gotten to the point where I look forward to belting out the lyrics in my living room now. Congratulations Chevy. You've beaten me down completely. And you've actually created an ad campaign that causes Stockholm Syndrome. This is ouuuuuurrr country.

9:30: Uh oh, Michael Kay is calling out Yankees manager Joe Girardi for saying the Yanks "HAD TO TAKE TWO OUT OF THREE" of these Red Sox games. So much for happy times later tonight on the Joe Girardi Show (which, amazingly, is broadcast on the YES Network). Girardi might punch Kay in the face....which would be a huge improvement...meanwhile, the Yankees go down in order in the 7th...still 4-2 Sox heading to the 8th.

9:41: Here's where it comes apart for the Yanks. Youkilis gets an infield single off of A-Rod's glove, then Bay hits a screamer to right-center that Abreu misses and it bounces over the head of Damon, sending Bay all the way to 3rd....one more run for the Red Sox, and this game is OVAH!!

9:50: And there it is...sac fly from Alex Cora scores Bay. 6-2 Boston. This seems to be a good time to take Cooper on a potty break, considering he's staring me down with a look that says "if you don't take me out soon, I'm going to redecorate this carpet"....we'll be back for the bottom of the ninth.

9:57: We're back just in time to see Woodland High's Dustin Pedroia belt a grand-slam to make it 11-to-2 Boston. And now we get shots of the Yankees fans making the "Sad Panda" face....Yankee fans heading to the exits in droves...sorry Yankee fans...your post-season dreams died tonight....wait, I'm not sorry...F-the Yankees!!!

Well it turned out to be anti-climatic...but again, what do you expect with a 210-million-dollar payroll?? God I love it when the Yankees lose....

Mike

Killing Time

2008-08-25T20:55:00.002-04:00

Well, we're five days into Jen being gone, and despite my best efforts to keep busy, I'm already talking to the walls....Cooper is good company, but his lack of being able to vocally discuss things in English is leading to some rather silent nights here at home.

Of course, I have been able to have SOME fun while the Mrs. is gone..here are some highlights:

-- Catching "Pineapple Express" in the theater on Friday night after work. I've been given strict instructions NOT to see "Tropic Thunder" without Jen, and we'd already seen "The Dark Knight," so "Pineapple" was the choice. And it was hilarious...but what made it even more funny was I can guarantee that at LEAST half of the audience was baked to the Bejesus belt...so every joke got laughs 10 times harder than normal....which made for an entertaining couple of hours...

Anyways, go see it if you get the chance.

Other movies I've enjoyed as I blaze through our Netflix and On Demand lists: In Bruges (which was excellent...definitely see that), The Reaping, Rush Hour 3, The Simpsons Movie, Cassandra's Dream, The Bank Job, and The Brave One.

-- Watching the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget on Thursday night. I had DVRed it earlier in the week, and finally got around to watching the whole thing. While none of these CC roasts will ever be as funny as the old Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, the Saget one was pretty good. John Stamos was the MC, and he got battered about Rebecca Romijn leaving him...Stamos himself was pretty funny....Jeff Ross was his usual comedic gold...but you need to see that roast for 82-year-old Cloris Leachman's comments....I can't believe how funny she was...definitely try to check it out.

-- Going to Jersey on Saturday for a party thrown by my co-worker Jim. It was a surprise party for his wife Heidi, and it was definitely a surprise, since her birthday was two months ago, but they hadn't been able to do anything for her because of work, so Jim decided to surprise her by inviting their friends....I took the PATH train to Hoboken, where my co-worker Jen and her boyfriend Jon picked me up, and we drove over to Cranston for the party. Our fellow co-worker Spencer was there as well with his wife and little 10-month old boy.

We have a small staff of news people here in New York, but the great thing is we all get along fabulously...Jen, Spencer, Jim and the others were more than welcoming when I arrived last year, and we've always talked about trying to spend more time with each other out of work...alas its hard to get the seven of us together with our other halves and such due to scheduling...so it was nice to just chill out for an afternoon and shoot the breeze...

-- After I got back into town on Saturday night, I was walking by Madison Square Garden when I realized that the WWE was in town. Most folks know that I still, at the age of 31, follow professional wrestling...I probably shouldn't, but I think its hilarious. Its my soap opera.

So I had 30 bucks in the wallet, and the show was about to start, so I went over to the entrance and was able to scalp a ticket....that ended up being 10th row...

Anyways, I hadn't been to the matches in awhile, and the crowd was really into it, without being a scary redneck crowd like poor Jen endured a few years ago in Sac...so it was a good time.

And yes...I graduated from college nine years ago...

-- Belting out karaoke at the Piper's Kilt Sunday night. I had the intention of just going there for an hour for dinner. Well, eight beers later, I had crooned three tunes. "867-5309," "Short Skirt, Long Jacket," and "The Rainbow Connection." It was fun...the crew for the UME social club that Jen and I are a part of were there, so we had a jolly good time.

That's about it so far...tonight (Monday) is a quiet night at home, though I did have dinner at the Kilt earlier. Plans for the upcoming week include a trip to the U.S. Open Thursday, and visiting with our friends Jason and Michelle, who come into town on Wednesday because Michelle is appearing on the Rachael Ray Show on Friday...

So I've had a good time so far, but I'd trade it all to be with my baby. Come home soon Jen!!

One Is The Loneliest Number

2008-08-21T23:06:00.002-04:00

Well, Mrs. Jen has headed off to Denver for the DNC, leaving young Cooper and I all by ourselves. You'd think we'd be thrilled to have a bachelor pad for 10 days, but truthfully, its been 12 hours, and I already miss my baby....

So expect some extra writing over the next few days as I look to fill the hours. I'm sure it'll all be Pulitzer-worthy...

In the meantime, enjoy this news story that I had the privilege to write today at work. As Mike Huthman said when I showed it to him, "The story is great, but the last sentence makes it super-great."

NJ - Ninjas Arrested

>>Clifton Cops Arrest Pair Of Modern-Day Ninjas

(Clifton, NJ) -- A pair of men who described themselves as modern day Ninjas looking to rid the region of evil instead were arrested by Clifton cops this week. Officers picked up 19-year-old Jesse Trojaniak and 20-year-old Tadieusz Tertkiewicz Tuesday after the pair were spotted dressed in full Ninja gear inside a parked car on Route 46. The duo told officers they were "Shinobi Warriors" and were on a quest to rid the area of drug users and drug dealers. They planned to deliver letters to their targets telling them to stop their "impure" ways. The men were armed to the teeth with knives in sheaths, throwing knives, Chinese throwing stars, nunchucks and other weapons. Both face weapons possession charges. Tertkiewicz has also been charged with harassment for delivering one of the letters to his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend.

###
Mike Watts NJ)

The Huthmans Take Manhattan Photos!!

2008-08-13T22:18:00.033-04:00

As promised...pictures from the Huthmans' recent trip to Manhattan. Ivanna had a conference here for about 8-9 days, so they stayed at a hotel for the first few days, and then joined us for 4 days in Inwood before heading home. All told they spent nearly two weeks here and got to see quite a bit.

Of course, the apple of Mike and Ivanna's eyes is their one-year-old daughter Anisa. She's as cute as a button and has all the personality in the world. And since Jen and I aren't going to be Aunts and Uncles by blood anytime soon, we're more than happy that Mike and Ivanna look at us as family, and that Anisa will grow up knowing she always has Aunt Jen and Uncle Wiggy in her corner.

So while Ivanna was unfortunately stuck in conference related stuff, Mike and I took Anisa around town, where she promptly fell asleep at all the major moments...

At Central Park

At the Buddhist Temple in Chinatown

Chinatown

Coney Island

The Pond at Central Park

Little Italy

She also fell asleep at Ground Zero, but we felt it was inappropriate to take a picture of that. Instead, here's a picture of the work continuing to happen at the WTC site.

Even when Ivanna was able to spend time with her daughter at night, Anisa was still ready to sleep.

She also managed to fall asleep at Yankee Stadium, which frankly, is hard to do...

Though to be fair, she actually watched most of the game. In fact, she had a blast...she was clapping when everyone else was...which was a lot because the Yankees kicked the Twins ass that night....f'in Yankees....

Most of the week, it just me and Mike taking the kid around town. It was like one long episode of "My Two Dads."

"You can count on me... no matter where you go.."

Mike also took her to the Museum of National History, where she got to see the dinosaurs!

Naturally, she was very excited!

That, in fact, is Anisa's "Super Happy Face!" (tm). She likes to do it a lot, and sometimes even without asking. Of course, I asked her to do it all the time, because I think its hilarious.

Mike and I tried to do the face as well, but its actually quite scary....

We also took the Huthmans to Coney Island.

All told, a really fun time, and we hope the Huthmans keep their promise to come back in the winter. Then we can pictures of Anisa asleep at the Rockfeller ice rink, at Madison Square Garden, at the big Christmas tree, etc. =)

I thought this was clever- Jen

2008-08-11T12:41:00.001-04:00

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$%#@^& YOU, NUMBER 4!!!!

2008-08-09T18:25:00.005-04:00

Throughout this whole Brett Favre nightmare this summer (and believe me, if you're a Packer fan, it's been a nightmare), people kept asking me if I could see Brett playing for another team...

I told them "No...there's no way...I know he wants to come back, but he's either going to have second thoughts, or the Pack will let him come back eventually and it'll be fine..."

Now fast forward a few weeks, and here's where we are:

Now....

Originally, I wasn't sure how I felt about this...in my mind, the Pack had moved on and they were right to. Hell, I'd moved on...I didn't write that damn piece on this blog earlier this year thinking "you know, he's probably coming back." I was sure that was it...

So when Jen and I hear he's been traded to the Jets, Jen immediately says "We should buy Jets tickets". So I get out of bed at 12:30 a.m. in the morning, log on, and immediately grab a couple of tickets to the Jets 2nd home game of the season versus Arizona (hard to imagine tickets were available, I know)

So we're going...and Jen wants to know if I plan to be cheering Brett or booing him?? And I told her at the time I didn't know...I still wasn't sure....

Well, I've come to a decision...and now not only do I plan to boo him mercilessly...I hope he suffers a season-ending injury while I'm there...

You blew this Brett...this is all your fault...after jerking the Pack around for three years each off-season about whether you were coming back, you finally decided to hang it up, did the whole 'teary press-conference' nonsense, and made it sound like that was it. We all moved on...only you couldn't...apparently you felt the need to jerk the Pack around AGAIN, and then get uppity when they said, "Uhhh Brett, we've decided to move on."

What the Packers SHOULD have done (and what I would have done if I was the GM, because I'm a vengeful a-hole) is told Brett, "sure, come back..but you won't be starting...and if you don't like it, that's fine, but we won't be trading you, and since we hold your rights for the next three years as part of your contract, you'll be staying right here...so deal with it."

Instead, the team gives in to the player (as always happens) and I get to turn on the news today to see idiot Jets fans screaming for Favre as he takes his first practice with the team.

So Brett....thanks for nothing. I thought you were different...I thought you would have the damn dignity of a Tony Gwynn or a Cal Ripken to know when its time to go, to stay with your team til the end of your career and then retire gracefully...

Instead all you've done is remind me that rooting for sports teams is basically rooting for laundry and that you shouldn't get caught up in the players because they always ALWAYS let you down in the end.

Thanks for the memories Brett...I hope your arm falls off "Dravecky-style."

Oh, and by the way...that wish of a season-ending injury? Not that far-fetched, because guess who's on the cover of "Madden" this year???

Dear God,

Please let the "Madden Curse" come true again this year.

Thanks,

Mike

Hope springs eternal....thanks again Brett, you $%@#!!!!

Visitors!!!

2008-08-06T21:44:00.003-04:00

Guess who's coming to the city? Kelli and Megs!!

They arrive on Thursday Morning!! I'm taking the day off. We'll play in the city and then go see Wicked!

Expect fun updates!!!

Jen

Belows a pic of the 3 of us from Meghan's 30th bday. It was when we were back in CA in May.

Canada in Pictures

2008-08-05T18:28:00.006-04:00

Hello All! Well, as Mike said in his last post we're back from Canada and had a wonderful relaxing
vacation. We started off our week up North with Jonathan and Stephanie's wedding. Jonathan is Mike's "cousin" (not by blood, but damn near might as well be).

Mike was emcee - he did a great job. Basically he introduced the speeches during dinner. He was funny, but brief- the best combination.

Here are some more wedding pictures:

Parents of the groom Aunt Patty and Uncle Gary-

All the cousins together

Bride Stephanie, Cousin Jonathan, Cousin Carrie, Her Husband Martin, Me, Mike, Cousin Jen, Sister Jen

That's right- one picture- 3 Jen's!

This is Cousin Jen and her husband Ken's daughter - Alexandra. Ken's not it the picture above because he's back at the hotel with her.

Doesn't she look like Suri Cruise?

After the wedding we spent the next 5 days at the cottage on Buck Lake Here's the cottage

Here's the View

Here's Barb going over the cottage rules with Cooper.

The Beckman's have the cottage next door and the people on the other side of the Beckmans have a dog that Jet Ski's

Now Cooper can't jet ski... but he did get his first ride in a ski boat.

It wore him out!!!

All in all we had a great,relaxing time.
Inside the cottage: Patty Beckman, Mike, Cooper the Great, Grandma, Barb, Sister Jen, Me Jen

Back From The Great White North

2008-08-01T09:33:00.004-04:00

Well, we've returned from our trip to Canada. We got in late last night (Thursday) after having spent nearly a full week up at the cottage in Kingston and in Ottawa for Jonathan's wedding.

Jen will I'm sure post a more lengthy version of our trip with pictures later this weekend, but lets hit some of the highlights of the past week:

-- Jonathan and Stephanie's wedding. For those who don't know the Beckman family, here's the scoop. My mother and her friend Patty went to nursing school together and have been the best of friends ever since. Patty and her husband Gary, along with my folks, have known each other for nearly 40 years, if not more... the Beckmans have the cottage next to ours, and we spent every summer with their kids (Carrie, Jen and Jonathan). We've always considered them family (we call them Aunt Patty and Uncle Gary, the Beckman kids have their Aunt Barb and Uncle Jack)

That's a long winded explanation to say that they are family, so when cousin Jonathan asked if I'd be the MC for his wedding to Stephanie, I jumped at the chance. It was a honor and a privilege, and it was a lot of fun. I got to show off some of the ol' Watts wit (I'm so modest) and everyone had a good time at the wedding.

Here's a picture of the happy couple, and another one (the famous "couch photo," minus the married couple, who missed their brunch the next day to head to Niagara Falls for a truncated honeymoon).

Stephanie and Jonathan

The rest of the gang (left to right: Cousin Jen, Martin (Carrie's husband), Carrie, Sister Jen, me, Jen, Ken (Jen's husband)) and little Alexandra in the front (Ken and Jen's daughter)

-- The Beckman wedding was an opportunity to see other "cousins" (actual cousins of the Beckman's who we also spent much summer time with). It was great to reconnect with Geoff, Jane, and Katie Walker (and to meet Jane's husband Chad and Katie's boyfriend Dave) and the Thompson clan (Bob, Debbie, Lisa, Amy, and Christina). Most of those folks I hadn't seen since Ken and Jen's wedding, and hopefully we'll get to see more of them now that we live out here on the East Coast

-- Another highlight: learning my sister has fallen in love with Radio Disney. We had XM radio in our rental car, and Sister Jen had us put it on. She then proceeded to sing along with every song by Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, High School Musical and Camp Rock...as Jen and I looked at each other in horror and then just busted out laughing. And my sister wonders why she's single.

Oh and thanks to my sister, I've now got that Miley song running through my head to the point where I actually downloaded it to my iPod this morning. I hate you Sister Jen...

-- Getting to play golf with my Uncle Dick and cousin Joe. Aunt Irene and Uncle Dick were kind enough to watch Mr. Cooper while we were in Ottawa for the wedding, and when we returned, Dick invited me to play golf with him and Joe the next day. That's always fun, because Uncle Dick can dish it out as much as he can take it, as can Joe, so the whole morning was full of fun trash-talk and waiting for the beer cart girl to begin her round at 11am...I shot a score that we won't mention here (which means I bought the ice cream at the end) but it was a great time.

-- Getting to go to Judy and Blaine Williams cottage a few lakes over for dinner Wednesday night. Judy is another cohort of Mom and Aunt Patty's from nursing school days and she and Blaine have been friends with our family for a long time. The added bonus of spending time with them is that Blaine happens to be one of the five funniest people I know (the other four? Will Selva, Chris Lango, Dave Tribbey and my father, who gets funnier and funnier with each passing day). Anyways, Blaine regaled us with stories from here and there, and we laughed a ton, as usual. My personal favorite is the fact that he referees soccer games that feature three-year-olds playing on a field that uses cases of beer for goalposts...that's Canada in a nutshell, pretty much.

-- Getting to spend time with Grandma. That's always precious, and at 88 years old, she's still feisty as ever. Grandma always manages to drop a gem of a comment every now and then, and she didn't disappoint this trip. We can't wait to go back and visit her in the fall again...

-- Cooper at the cottage. Cooper's first trip of what I'm sure will be many to Buck Lake, and he had a blast. Jen was worried about him running off into the wilderness but he never left the property. Sister Jen took him for a bunch of walks, he got to chase chipmunks, squirrels and rabbits, he even went for his first swim in Buck Lake! (though to be fair, it wasn't voluntary, and he's still pissed at Daddy for throwing him in)...

-- Getting to see Aunt Ede and Isabelle. Aunt Ede is my grandmother's sister-in-law and its rare that we get the chance to spend time with her. Isabelle is Ede's long time friend who our family has gotten to know through the years. They came out to Buck for lunch on Tuesday and it was a good time, though we had to keep Isabelle from stealing the fine dishes again!

-- Spending time with Mom and Sister Jen. Hey, when you don't live in California, you have to try and get as much time with family as you can. I'm glad the three of us were able to be up at the cottage together, and I can't wait to see you guys (and Dad) sooner rather than later.

-- I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out, but it's time to get back to the grind of work. I'll leave you with a few quotes from the trip. Trips to the cottage and summers spent there with the Beckmans always seemed to breed stories that have lived on and random quotes that will be repeated to our grandchildren. This year was no exception, and while they might only make sense to those of us who were there...here they are:

"Jonathan, cars cost money."

"Never pay more than a dollar for mustard"

"I'm not in the picture! And I'm going home!"

Love to you all, and expect more from Jen this weekend

Mike

Gone Fishing

2008-07-24T23:24:00.007-04:00

On Friday, we leave for Canada...to head to our cottage for a week and squeeze in yet ANOTHER relative's wedding... (my cousin Jonathan in Ottawa)...

Getting ahold of us will be tough because cell phone calls up there are like 90 cents a minute (in other words, don't call us) and we'll have no Internet service unless we head into town and stop by the library or something...

No phone, no lights, no motor car...not a single luxury...or something...

Anyways, when we come back I promise lots of pictures, as well as pics of The Huthmans Take Manhattan. I'll leave you with a couple of photos from that trip...one of Anisa doing her Super Happy Face for Aunt Jen:

And a very poor and somewhat scary Super Happy Face from Anisa's father and her Uncle Wiggy:

See you on August 1st

Gone Fishing

Mike

The Day Cool Died

2008-07-17T21:13:00.004-04:00

We're slagging though the summer...I blame the heat.

The Huthman clan is in town this week, and I've been fortunate to spend lots of time with Mike and little Anisa while Ivanna has been busy with her seminars and Jen's been at work. We've got lots of pictures of Anisa sleeping her way through New York (not like that, you perverts!)

Anyways, those pics and a full recap of "The Huthmans Take Manhattan (with help from the Watts')" is coming soon...

In the meantime, I've used this blog to talk about the music I like and the movies I enjoy. Now its time to advocate for some of my favorite columnists...this column by Sports Illustrated's Phil Taylor, ran in the latest issue of SI. I think it's great...hope you feel the same.

THE DAY COOL DIED

By Phil Taylor

Cool, the onetime giant of sports culture that had long been in declining health, died in seclusion last month. In a measure of how forgotten Cool had become, the moment of its passing went largely unnoticed even though the event was witnessed by millions on television, shortly after the Boston Celtics won the NBA championship by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers. In the ensuing celebration Celtics star Kevin Garnett was asked how he felt about winning the first title of his 13-year career. He threw his head back and bellowed, "Anything is possible!" as though he had just accomplished something previously thought to be beyond human capability, like walking on the sun or deciphering the plot of Lost. With Garnett's scream, Cool took its dying breath.

Authorities say that Garnett will not be held responsible for the demise of Cool, ruling that he was no more culpable than thousands of other modern-day athletes who have an overwhelming need for self-congratulation and a tendency to overdramatize. Those athletes avoided Cool like a subpoena during its final years, instead embracing midair chest bumps, primal yells and the kind of elaborate, multistep hand jive that grade-school girls do on playgrounds.

Cool was on a respirator as the end neared, its breathing more shallow with every poststrikeout fist pump by Joba Chamberlain, every dunk-and-sneer from Vince Carter and every one-act play performed by Chad Johnson after a touchdown catch. In its weakened state, it was hard to believe that Cool once walked with kings, that Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, Julius Erving, Bjorn Borg and Walt Frazier were never caught without Cool, in competition or away from it. Cool not only added to their mystique but also served a practical purpose. "I always felt that [Cool] gave me an advantage," Frazier says. "It's like in poker, if the other players can't read you, it puts that uncertainty in their minds and that puts you in control."

Its age was hard to pin down, but Cool is believed to have been born in the late 1960s, around the time Joe Namath began wearing full-length fur coats and dating models (no one said Cool couldn't be fun) and John Carlos and Tommie Smith stood silent and stoic on the Olympic medal podium in Mexico City, their leather-gloved fists raised in a human rights salute (no one said Cool couldn't be serious).

Stardom quickly followed for Cool. Kids aspired to it. Men tried to embody it. Women were attracted to it. Cool reached out to established coaches, giving their gentlemanly, controlled personas a new cachet. As Tom Landry walked the Dallas Cowboys' sideline wearing a suit, a crisp fedora and an unchanging expression, Cool was on his shoulder. It was there, too, beside UCLA's John Wooden as he directed his nearly flawless Bruins -- perhaps the coolest crew ever -- without rising from his courtside seat. It seemed not so much that winners were cool, but that Cool created winners.

Only in retrospect is it clear when Cool began to hit hard times. In the opener of the 1979–80 NBA season, the Lakers beat the San Diego Clippers on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's buzzer-beating hook shot. Abdul-Jabbar was the kind of Cool customer who would hit a game-winner, stroll off the court and go put on a Miles Davis album. But this was the pro debut for Magic Johnson, the league's No. 1 pick. Magic jumped on Abdul-Jabbar and wrapped him in a bear hug, surprising the captain but charming the fans with his joy. No one knew it then, but Cool was doomed.

Though Magic's jubilation was genuine, over time fans and players alike became so hooked on open displays of emotion that they didn't care if those displays were real or not. Partly because of the huge salaries that athletes were making, the public wanted to see players in agony or ecstasy, as proof that they cared about more than the paycheck. The athlete who preened for the cameras and pounded his chest was assumed to have more passion than the one who kept a lid on his emotions. Cool became confused with Bland and Uninterested. Now it's not the player who bashes in the occasional watercooler who's criticized, it's the one who doesn't.

Like most stars of another era, Cool had several aborted comebacks, with the occasional athlete attempting to revive it. Tom Brady, Mariano Rivera and Ichiro Suzuki were among the last advocates of Cool, but few of their colleagues followed suit. Cool's condition was terminal.

There will be no funeral service, which is how Cool would have wanted it. In lieu of flowers, mourners are asked simply to appreciate players who don't feel the need to punctuate every accomplishment with an over-the-top celebration, who understand the beauty in letting a performance speak for itself. That would be totally Cool.

Random Musings...

2008-07-02T10:07:00.003-04:00

THOUGHTS WHILE WONDERING IF I SHOULD PUT IN FOR HOLIDAY PAY FOR HAVING TO WORK CANADA DAY YESTERDAY:

**If I've learned nothing from working in New York, I've learned this: If you are a politician, you are probably corrupt to the core. It is amazing how many times I've reported on corruption cases involving mayors, city council members, etc. Amazingly enough, most of them are in New Jersey...imagine that.

**Petrozza not choosing Corey as his first pick for the final challenge of Hell's Kitchen might have been the biggest blunder in reality TV history. I'm still rooting for him though..

**Speaking of reality TV, when I first saw promos for "Wipe Out" on ABC, I really thought we'd sunk to a new low in television... Now, after watching it in a crowded bar last Sunday, I think its one of the best shows on television. You really should check it out...even if only for 5 minutes. But its WAYYY better watching it in a crowd, with all the "OOOHH!!" and "DOHHH!!!" Good times...

***We got screwed over at the grocery store the other day. We went to this place in Harlem called Fairway because its supposed to be awesome. And it was, until it came to the delivery part. We told them we wanted it delivered, because we were going to go across the street with our friend Dawn and have dinner at Dinosaur BBQ (which I am SO taking Dave to the next time he comes here)

Anyways, there delivery says "3 to 5 hours"...so we figured, thats plenty of time to have dinner and get home before the groceries arrive. Well, we're in the middle of dinner, its been about 90 minutes, and Jen's phone rings. Its the delivery guy...and he's at our door.

I talked to him first and went back and forth on why he was so early. He kept saying "I'm here, buzz me in" and I kept saying "Well, we're not there, we're across the street from the store and are 30 minutes away." This kept going for awhile, with me saying "you're early...that's not our fault." and then finally hanging up on him (a bit of a language barrier as well)

He calls back, this time Jen answers and reads him the riot act. Tells him to go make other deliveries and come back. He says he's going to leave our groceries on the front stoop...Jen tells him thats unacceptable...and back and forth...

Well, we get home...and the groceries are on the front stoop. On a positive note, at least we didn't have a confrontation with him if he came back after we got home. Lord knows he wasn't going to get a tip...

**Random celebrity sighting at the Fairway store though. Dr. John. You know, the legendary musician? He was shopping for yams. I feel like you need to know these things...

**With Cito Gaston now managing the Blue Jays again, and Cliff Fletcher running the Leafs from the GM office, I feel like its 1992 all over again...now if only these two men came bring my teams back to prominence...

**Just finished watching "Rambo"....as in the newest one. Holy %#^!! Pretty funny to watch a 60-year-old Sly run around like he's 35 all over again...I gotta tell ya, the body count in this one is pretty high, but it served its purpose...

**Other movies I've enjoyed recently as we purge through our Netflix list: King of California, Charlie Wilson's War, The Bucket List, Ratatouille, The King of Kong, Disturbia, Deja Vu, and Enchanted.

Movie that was highly overrated: Transformers

**And finally, we can't wait to see our friends in the upcoming months. Katie and Brian this week, the Huthmans in nine days, and Kelly and Meghan next month. The rest of you...start planning your vacations here!!

Mike

Differences by Jen

2008-06-28T16:30:00.009-04:00

VS.

Things that are different on the East Coast...

Avocados- they have strange large avocados from Florida, you can still find the California Haas avocados but you see the Florida ones in stores more frequently

Seasonings - McCormick and Lawry's no where to be found- lots of weird named seasonings- i miss the brands and labels that I know

Best Foods Mayo is Hellman's Mayo and Dryers Ice Cream is Edy's Ice Cream- the logo's and packaging are the same - the name is just different

Here "summer" is a verb, where are you summering? I summer in the Hampton's. Even karate schools and kids camps advertise come summer here. Back home summer is noun. What did you do over summer is how the west coasters roll.

Here- A 30% chance of rain defines just about any summer day- don't forget the thunderstorms which are perfectly normal when temps are in the 80's

That's all I got for you now, but I'm sure more will come to me later on!

Oh wait... I just thought of one more

In California-people finish thoughts with "ya know?" or "Yea?"

In NY they finish thoughts with "right?"

Jen's Back! Back to blogging and Back from the Hamptons

2008-06-25T21:13:00.007-04:00

Hi Guys!

Sorry it's been forever since I've blogged. Life has been a bit hectic and I've been slacking.

In catching up.. After our trip to California I got assigned to cover Obama in St. Paul, Mn. It was the night he "officially" got enough delegates to become the party nominee. It was an amazing experience to watch history happen before my eyes! Here's a pic I took from the press riser w/ Obama speaking over my shoulder.

Anyhow, this past weekend Mike, Cooper and I went to the Hamptons. Our relatives Glenda and Harvey live in East Hampton during the summer and invited us to join them for a weekend to meet other relatives for the first time.

You see I have a fairly complicated family tree on my Dad's side of the family and there are a lot of relatives that I have never met before

Let me explain My Grandfather (My Dad's Dad -who died before I was born) Sam Weiss had 2 wives and 2 sets of children about 20 yrs apart.

The First wife died at a young age.... She had 2 daughters. One of those daughters is the mother to my Cousin Glenda the one we just visited in the Hamptons.

On her death bed she told Sam to send for her niece in Hungary to marry. Good thing too because this was shortly before the Holocaust. SO Serena (said niece) came to the states married Sam and then had 2 boys- my dad and my uncle art (dorie's dad - the wedding we went to in LA)

Are you following?

So my uncle Art and Glenda are the same age..and Glenda is 4 yrs older then my dad. But Glenda and I share the same Grandfather- very confusing I know. There was a lot of chart drawing and explaining going on this weekend.

Glenda and her dog cousin Cooper in the Hamptons

Now how are we related again? Was a common question being asked.

Anyhow, I've gotten to know Glenda and Harvey pretty well over the years but she is the only one on that half of the family that I have ever really gotten to know. So this weekend I got to meet her daughter Amy and her 2 boys Graham(14) and Emit (10).

Emit

Graham

Amy & her boyfriend Fred

It was really cool! It was so nice and fun to be around family. I look forward to keeping in touch with them from now on. They live in Vermont and we hope to go visit them soon since we are so close.

From Left to Right Me, Fred, Mike, Amy, Harvey, Glenda, Graham... Cooper is out of sight but standing in front of everyone!

Now, here's where it gets to be a super small world. Harvey, married to Glenda, told me back in October that he has a relative that lives in Inwood. That's where Mike and I live. So on Saturday we were all to have dinner together at Glenda and Harvey's.

So guess what? Harvey's niece Traci, her husband Jim and their teenage daughter Katie play trivia at the Pipers Kilt. They are on the Kitchen Doctor team. A team that frequently kicks our butts at Trivia night. What a small world?

Anyhow, they are great people too! They were great to get to know, they told us lots of insightful tips about the neighborhood. We look forward to spending more time with them as well.

Anyhow- the Hamptons. Everyone keeps asking me what the Hamptons are like. It's one of those places that everyone on the west coast has heard the name of, but has never actually been to.

Here's how I would describe the Hamptons... You know how in California when you drive along the Pacific Coast HWY you pass a bunch of beach towns. Each has it's on feel. Some are very chill, others are very Posh. Well that's what the Hamptons are like... except the highway isn't as windy and the towns aren't as far apart.

The Beach from East Hampton

The Hamptons are the east end of Long Island which is long and skinny hence the name. There are several towns and villages... West Hampton, West Hampton Village, East Hampton, East Hampton Village, Sag Harbor, Montauk, and several others. If you really care about the geography google it! :)

Anyhow we had a lovely time... here are some pics....

Gossman's Dock in Montauk

Dog's off leash at the East Hampton Beach on Sunday morning.

Cooper loved it!

Mike and Cooper watching the fishing boats in Montauk

How Low Can You Go...???

2008-06-24T19:42:00.004-04:00

Most of my long-time friends, guys like Kevin, Mike and Dave, know that I'm a really competitive person. I don't like to lose at ANYTHING. Kevin and I had Nerf basketball showdowns in our high school years that ended in pushes and shoves...in his parents' living room. On the football field with friends, if my team was losing, I'd bust out my patented "Wiggy tackle" (otherwise known as "grab the guy by the neck and drag him down) out of pure anger at losing a stupid Sunday morning game with friends. Air hockey games...board games...hell, even that NBA Jam Nintendo tournament we held back in early college that ended with Dave somehow sinking a half court shot with Mitch Richmond to beat me in the semis that I'm STILL not over (c'mon Dave, you know you had no business winning that game)....

As you can see...I don't like to lose...I'm the most competitive person I know. And I know a lot of you are asking, "Even more than Katie Neal?" Yes, even more than Katie.. (though to be fair, it was a photo finish.)

I relay this information because this past weekend I sunk about as low as you can possibly go to win at something...all in the name of claiming victory..

This past weekend we spent Saturday and Sunday with Jen's cousins Harvey and Glenda who live in the Hamptons. They are old enough to have grandchildren, and their daughter and her kids stayed at the house as well, so it was a good ol' family get together.

Jen and I had never met Harvey and Glenda's daughter Amy or her kids...14-year-old Graham and 10-year-old Emmitt...

Emmitt (otherwise known as "the victim")

Once we got there...Emmitt asked me if I played tennis. Yeah, but not in a long while, I told him. Well, he really wanted to play (10 year olds have a ton of energy) so with a borrowed racket and some borrowed sneakers from Harvey...Jen and Amy dropped Emmitt and I off at the public tennis courts for an hour or so...

Now, the whole ride over there, and for at least an hour before we got there...I proceeded to hear from Emmitt about how great he was at tennis.. How he had an "unreturnable" serve, how he played all the time and was really good, and on and on and on...

So when we got there, we warmed up a bit, and I said I'd let him serve...but then I said the words that caused the title of this blog post.

"Alright Emmitt, your serve, but be careful...I wouldn't want you to serve it into the net on your first shot...that'd sure be a bad sign..."

That's right...mind games on a 10-year-old...and, of course, it worked...he was a disaster after that. First serves into the net. After that, I made him run all over the place...when he backed up, I dinked shots in front of him...when I needed a point to keep him from winning even one game...I unleashed a fairly hard serve that he'd never be able to return...if he came in close, I'd hit a shot way up in the air over his head...etc.

The first set went quickly...6-love me...he didn't win a game. I wouldn't let him...this was tough love baby! And as it went on, and his frustration grew, he started complaining that the wind was screwing up his shots, and I was lucky and such...

Well, that just wanted to make me win more...now I wanted to shut him out completely!

Again, 10-years-old...

Unfortunately (fortunately?) my lack of conditioning caught up with me, and he actually took two games from me in the second set when I eased up a bit. But the final score? 6-0 6-2 for the supposedly mature 31 year old...

Of course, I had to talk trash afterwards, asking Emmitt where his unreturnable serve had gone, and I hoped to play him again after he found it...he took it all in good humour, but I'm sure quietly, the kid is plotting my demise..

So there you have it...for those of you who thought I couldn't sink any further than playing mind games with my wife at the bowling alley when she was about to beat my score...there it is...annihilating a 10-year-old on the tennis court...

I'm going to make a wonderful father...

Mike

The Perfect Day

2008-06-16T22:48:00.006-04:00

This past Sunday was just the perfect day in my mind. Jen and I decided Saturday night that we'd go do some stuff Sunday that we hadn't gotten a chance to do in town here yet. It was a packed day, but a great time.

We got up around 9am and took the train to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (or "The Met" as its known in town...as opposed to "The Mets." who are known in town at the moment as "stinkin' losers.") We had never been before, but we only had about an hour of time there, so we flew around and saw the two rotating exhibits that we wanted to see...you know, the ones that are only in there for a few months. One was these statue sculptures made to look like balloon animals that are on display on the roof of the building. Here's a picture!

The other one was actually not what I had in mind, but was interesting all the same. It was called "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy." We thought the exhibit was just going to take a look at superhero fashions through the years and how the cartoonists had come up with looks...instead, it was "today's fashion designers put their spin on superhero fashion" Some wierd shit, let me tell you, but still, pretty interesting...

Sorry, no pictures allowed...the security guy even wagged a finger at Jen when she pulled the camera out...poor baby.

After that, we caught a cab through Central Park, because we had to head over to Lincoln Center for a film festival. We had bought tickets the night before for a flick being shown as part of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. The movie was called "The Recruiter." Basically, its about this Army recruiter in rural Louisiana and some of his recruits. He's been awarded as the best recruiter in the country, and it shows how he goes about finding possible recruits, staying on them about signing up, going through the difficulties of getting people to sign up and stay on course to become recruits, and so forth. It also follows 4 of his recruits through the process, and then basic training as well.

Just fascinating stuff, and real eye-opening for those of us who wonder how they even get kids to sign up for the Armed Forces these days, considering we're in war mode and all.

The director was there for the screening and did a Q&A afterwards. Good stuff...

Anyways, I highly recommend this movie. HBO is actually going to show it sometime in mid-July, so look for it.

From there, we wandered down to Sixth Avenue, where we stumbled upon a street fair! I love wandering through these...always shit to buy, and fun to people watch...its like a mini-version of going to the State Fair...

It stretched for about 17 blocks, down past Radio City Music Hall and into Bryant Park. I got a laugh out of walking by RCMH and seeing people lining up to get into the Tony Awards (they were Sunday night). These poor people, in their tuxs and ball gowns, and they have to line up 4 hours before the show in the heat....they were sweltering...and the smell of kababs and Indian food from the street fair 50 feet away probably wasn't helping matters.

The best thing to come out of the street fair in my mind, besides the birthday gift we bought for little Anisa Huthman when she comes next month, was something Jen had wanted me to try for a long time. Its called an arepa...its basically two corn cakes, with mozzerella cheese in the middle..fried...(see? I told you...State Fair!)

Anyways, its delicious...holy Moses I could have eaten 4 or 5 of the buggers. It might have killed me, but as Dave knows, I'm willing to make that kind of sacrifice for large quantities of good food.

We came home, pretty worn out from the full day, and then had a dinner of pasta with sausage and cheese bread, while we watched Iron Chef America and the Next Food Network Star (whatever did I watch before the Food Network?? I can't remember...)

All in all, the perfect day....it trickled into Monday morning as well when Jen took me to Regis and Kelly....she had gotten tickets for us because Emeril Lagasse was filling in for Regis and she knew I wanted to see him. We sat up close, got a smidge of camera time, and he signed my cookbook for me. That's all I wanted!

A fabulous day (plus a bit) with my fabulous wife...just another day in the Big City.

Mike

We're having a heat wave....

2008-06-11T09:57:00.003-04:00

...we had been slagging on the posting since our return from CA, so I wanted to post something this weekend...but it was too hot...that and the fact that I was laid up Sunday with what we now think actually WAS salmonella poisoning (thank you tomatoes!), pushed the posting process to Monday, but it was still too hot, and then Tuesday was hotter STILL...

Yep, we're having a heatwave here in the big city. But it's not a tropical heatwave. It's a heatwave where you're constantly sweating and you want to basically kill yourself. Add in the fact that we don't have central air, and you're just miserable.

Fortunately, the current heatwave appears to have ended today. We're back into the mid 80s (10 degrees higher than normal, but still not record breaking upper 90s temps like the past two days and humidity is down) and there's actually a breeze...I'll enjoy it while I can...July is right around the corner...

Other thoughts from the past few weeks:

**Took in another Jays-Yankees game at Yankee Stadium. The Jays lost, but it was amusing to me to watch these Yankees fans realize that their team isn't going anywhere this year. Big-time fatalistic, and I think we're probably due for some major baseball-related violence in the Bronx this September as the postseason slips away from the men in the pinstripes...

Having said that, my friend once said that these Yankee teams are hard to hate because they have a bunch of likeable players and aren't like the Yankee teams of old. Now, that might be the most ignorant comment I've ever heard (and please, look for my new book "18,738 Reasons to Hate the New York Yankees," coming soon to bookstores everywhere!!), BUT I have to admit, I have an absolute man-crush on Joba Chamberlain...I just like the kid...I like his ability, I like his demeanor, I like his humbleness, I like his polio-stricken father, his life story is unbelievable, I'm just rooting for Joba to do well in his big-league career (except, of course, when he pitches against the Jays)

**Lord help us, but we almost had a Mike Watts appearance on the Nancy Grace show a few days back. I know, I know, how crazy would that have been? The story is that her producer called my office last Monday (the 2nd) and wanted to know if we were covering the Tatum O'Neal drug bust story and if I could come on the show that night to discuss it. I told the producer that we were covering the story, but weren't like down at the courthouse or anything, and that it had pretty much become a non-story (she had been released without bail, didn't say anything to reporters, blah blah blah)...she thought she still might like to use me, and was going to call my boss and ask (I needed his permission to appear for Metro)...

Well they ended up using a New York Post reporter when they decided they wanted someone who had been PHYSICALLY covering the story all day (can't say I blame them there)...this is actually a good thing, because I hate Nancy Grace...she drives me up the wall...I can't watch her without wanting to shoot out my TV, so there would have been a good chance I'd have re-enacted the Sue Simmons profanity during my appearance...

By the way, my sister does a really good Nancy Grace impression...I feel like you need to know these things...

**Jen was in St. Paul last week helping cover the Obama camp for work. She hates when I talk like this, but she's becoming quite the star over there at the alphabet network. She got compliments on her producing performance from folks who rarely hand out kind words, and she's been put on a few shortlists for more producing efforts around the country, including hurricane coverage. I'll let her tell you more about all this in a later post, but I'm very proud of her!! Cooper and I sure do miss her when she's out of town though...my time at the bar goes up exponentially... =)

**More cool duties for me later this summer. My cousin Jonathan has asked me to be his MC for his wedding in Ottawa next month. Apparently he's forgotten that I have about, oh I don't know, a MILLION embarassing stories about his childhood and our summers together at the cottage, I'm sure I'll be able to tell a few of them in front of everyone he knows....should be fun! Jen and I have booked our time off to head to Canada this summer for a week of fun with the wedding at time at the cottage with my Grandma (and Mom and Master Jen, who'll also be there at the same time we are)

**And finally, if you see one movie at all this summer, see Zombie Strippers...

Mike

So Cal Fun!!

2008-05-28T22:34:00.004-04:00

A write-up is coming soon... Cooper and I are jet lagged and need to go to bed!

Here's a quick tease

Laureen's Twins

Dorie's Wedding

Homecoming Week (Nor-Cal Version)

2008-05-28T20:51:00.005-04:00

Nine months without stepping a foot in California was a long damn time, so you can imagine Jen and I's excitement that we were able to come home for a week and a half. It was really fun to get to see everybody and we had an action packed 11 days.

Friday the 16th was, without a doubt, the longest day ever..but it was a ton of fun. We were up early and on a plane to SF (with Cooper in the cabin underneath the seat in front of us of course) and got in around noon. Bec picked us up, and we immediately couldn't believe the weather. 95 degrees in the FRICKIN city!! We were sweating buckets! I came home for this??

Roasting aside, we had a good time hanging out in the city. Had lunch at a place across from Bec's home, then the girls went or manicures and pedicures while Cooper and I rested. Soon we were headed to Sister Jen's graduation, where we met up with Mom and Dad.

I can't say enough how proud I am of my sister for getting her master's. I remember when my Dad asked me if I thought I was interested in getting a master's in something, I just laughed. But Sister Jen (should we now call her Master Jen?) worked hard for several years and gave up her Saturdays to get her masters in theology. She's a better person than I. Now if we could just figure out what she plans to do with it... =)

Here's a picture of the happy grad and her family.

Following graduation, and a celebratory dinner at a seafood restaurant at Pier 39, we picked up Cooper from Brian and Katie's house (Katie had graciously baby-sat the Coop while we were at the graduation...see her blog for details. How's that for cross-promotion?) and then headed with Mom and Dad back to Roseville. We got in at 1:30 a.m....and realized we had been up for 24 hours. Long day...

Saturday we were up and after a quick trip to Peets (YAY Peets iced non-fat vanilla lattes!!) we were preparing for the party.

The party at Mom and Dad's house I have since compared to our wedding reception, only because we felt like we only had a few minutes with everyone. Thanks so much to everyone who came out. It was great to see everyone, and we really appreciate those who were able to make it.

It's always especially fun to see all the young ones, from little Anisa Huthman, to Gabby Palamadessi, to Brooklyn Pebbles and Emily Mae Martin. I can't believe how much all of those kids have grown in just the last nine months.

THe rest of the time in Sacramento/Roseville was filled with catching up with friends. I was able to grab lunch with Dave one day while Jen was getting her hair done. Jen was able to go have dinner with Kelli and Megan in honor of Megs turning the big 30. We were able to get up to El Dorado Hills and meet Jason and Michele's little boy Dylan Smith.

There's actually an amusing story tied to getting to see Michele and her son. So we're at Target and I'm trying to pick out a toy to bring to Dylan, and I'm showing Jen the two I'm trying to decide between, and some woman comes up from behind us. She's five feet away MAYBE...and she says, "You must be a nice Grandpa..."

WHAT?!?!?!?

So I turned around and faced this woman, who IMMEDIATELY saw that I was nowhere near Grandpa status, and she started backpedaling big time..."or..a nice dad, or uncle"

I was able to smile weakly and say, "actually none of those things"

What I wanted to do was slug her. I mean, are you kidding? Do I look THAT OLD??! Granted I hadn't shaved in 3-4 days but still...

Needless to say, Jen thought this whole situation was HILARIOUS, and she's still laughing about it and calling me "Grandpa"...

Wednesday morning Jen & Cooper went to News10 for a few hours andvisited with all the old coworkers.

We also got to have lunch with Kelly and Chris and check out their home in progress. It's amazing. I can't wait to come home for their house warming party next summer!!

When we were planning to come home, my co-workers here in NYC asked me what I wanted to do most while home. Of course, my answer revolved around food. I wanted good Mexican food and In-N-Out Burger. We were able to get both, thank God. There is no good Mexican food out here. You need to have at least a couple of illegals in the kitchen before you know its good Mexican, and you'll only find that in California. And that's probably the most politically incorrect thing I've EVER said, but hey, it's true...

The evenings during the rest of the week were spent having dinner with Mom and Dad and catching up. It was great to be able to stay with them and we had a fabulous time.

All in all, a great trip home to Northern California. I'll let Jen tell the So-Cal part of the trip, as that had its moments of hilarity as well, including Jen injuring her hip on the dance floor at her cousin's wedding. Apparently I married a Golden Girl... =)

Thanks again to everyone who we got to see when we were home, and we can't wait for everyone to visit us here!!

Mike

The Mic is always on...

2008-05-14T20:37:00.006-04:00

When I first took media class in high school with Mr. Clark, he taught us a variety of items when it came to broadcasting, but the one that he repeated over and over and OVER again was..."the mic is always on."

In other words, when you have a microphone in your hand, or attached to your lapel, you have to THINK you are always LIVE...

We've seen journalists get fouled up before by not thinking about what they're saying while they're in the anchor chair. Former KCRA anchor Stan Atkinson managed to call Sen. Boxer a "bitch" on the air,

now, the latest incident comes right here in NYC...where WNBC's Sue Simmons, a broadcasting legend here in the Big Apple, managed to utter the deadliest of the 7 deadly words...

The backstory is it was in the middle of a live tease, and she wasn't pleased that her partner Chuck Scarborough was not paying attention...

what follows is her outburst, and then her "apology" moments later...

Broadcasters....you gotta love 'em....

Remember folks, as Mr. Clark would say, "the mic is always on"

(He also used to say, "Chew gum, lose 10 points" But I digress)

Mike

Random Thoughts

2008-05-04T18:20:00.002-04:00

Random Thoughts as I continue this 3 week stretch of basically getting up at 12:30 a.m., going to work til 6pm, getting home at 7pm, going to bed at 830pm and then doing it all over again the next day....please pray for me...one more week to go...

- You know you're living in New York when you're wandering around Bloomingdale's and you run smack into Abe Vigoda...most people know him as Fish from Barney Miller and as Tessio from the Godfather movies...the younger of us know him from his Conan and roast appearances...well, he was with some woman who was dragging him around to look at dresses for something...and all I could do was stare...this is the kinda stuff that happens here...

- I don't know about you, but for me, nothing ruins a good Kentucky Derby like an execution moments after the race. Thank God we weren't at Katie's party for that one, Jen would have had to been taken out on a stretcher...

- Met Gordon Ramsey the other day. He was doing a book signing in Midtown and I went over after work to get him to sign for Jen and I. We are big fans of Hell's Kitchen...and I particularly enjoy his BBC shows...anyways, he was actually quite nice, though he did call me "big boy"...guess he could have called me "donkey", so I think I got off easy...

- Personally, I hope Eric or Cirie win "Survivor"...I can't stand any of the rest of them....

- Speaking of Reality TV shows, I caught the first couple of episodes of Temptation Island 2 on the Fox Reality Channel...it would be an understatement to say the show reaches a solid 97 on the Unintentional Comedy Scale...

- The more I live in New York, the more I come to hate Al Sharpton...

- Of all the things I'm looking forward to when we come back to California, the top of the list reads like this, "Lunch with Yams at Squeeze-Inn."

- Walking to the subway at 1am gives you a whole new perspective on who exactly hangs out in your neighborhood...I've seen just about everything over these last two weeks, from two guys openly swapping spit up against a store window, to a guy peeing in the corner, to two white-haired Puerto Rican grannies stumbling out of bar...good times!!

- When it gets right down to it, Baby Mama was one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time.

- I'm in 6 fantasy baseball leagues this year, (which is driving Jen crazy), but the only one I TRULY care about is the Fox 40 league...and I'm currently in first place...keep your fingers crossed....

I spilt my coffee on a stranger (A Jen post of course)

2008-04-21T21:19:00.003-04:00

It's no secret. I'm fairly clumsy... usually this fault only causes problems for myself. Well, this morning it caused a problem for someone else.

The train came. I along with several others walked in and sat down. We're the first stop so everyone got a seat and sat rather spaced apart. Across from me was a grandma and 2 kids. The kids were clearly not from NY and this was their first subway ride. The woman siting one seat away from me on my side of the train looked like a nurse or a medical assistant. She was wearing scrubs.

I had my purse next to me and my travel coffee mug (filled w/ yummy Aged Sumatra Peets coffee). I was digging in my purse for my Ipod when I hear the little girl ask her Grandma if you are allowed to drink on the train. The Grandma said "Yes as long as your careful." I was thinking how nice it was to hear a kid with manners, asking if something is "ok." And that's when I did the not "ok."

My purse hit the coffee mug. My coffee mug fell to the side on the bench and the lid opened and the lady in the scrubs got sprayed w/ Aged Sumatra. She didn't get soaked... but she definitely got sprayed.

I felt awful.

She looked shocked and I kept saying "I'm so sorry."

I offered her my Tide stick. She didn't want it and she got off at the next exit/. Presumably to go back home and change.

I still feel bad.

To that random stranger on the A train - I truly am sorry!!!

Why's Mike so quiet???

2008-04-20T12:07:00.005-04:00

If you're wondering why I've been rather quiet as of late, its because I have been slammed with pope-related coverage, and well as working 13 of the last 14 days (including today, Sunday). Poor Jen is getting her Benedict fill as well this weekend (and having to rise at 2am as well), but I think I have her beat only because I've seemingly reported on NOTHING but the Holy Father for weeks now...the whole town has been giddy with anticipation, and I was telling my co-workers the other day, "I swear, if I see ONE MORE Pope-related promo..I'm becoming a Muslim out of spite.."

Actually I was hoping I'd get a chance to meet the Pope...so I could have him bless my matza for Passover...maybe he could have come over and I would have let him try to find the Afikomen?? Just as long as he didn't sit in Elijah's chair, all would have been well...maybe next time...

Well, the pontiff leaves tonight following a mass at Yankee Stadium (if you're lucky B-Neal, maybe he'll say a prayer for the Yankees mess of a starting rotation) but the fun doesn't end for me...

No...beginning next week, I move to a new shift at work...Mondays thru Fridays from noon to 6-630pm....along with that I begin training to be a backup producer for Charles Osgood and his Osgood Files radio shows that he does on a daily basis...

For those of you who aren't familiar with Mr. Osgood, he's the Paul Harvey of CBS radio....google Osgood Files and you'll find out more...

Anyways, I'm training with the regular producer all next week, and then filling in for him the following two weeks after that...the kicker is its a morning shift, as in EARLY morning...as in I have to be up at 2am to get here by 330am...produce Osgood til 10...find a place to take a quick snooze here in the CBS building (maybe I can use Andy Rooney's couch) and then work from noon to 6....

Basically 15 hour days...for 3 weeks straight...maybe I should get the Pope to say a prayer for me!

So if you don't hear from me much in this blog over the next 3 weeks, its probably because I'm asleep...

But I will try and write every now and then should funny stories arise or whatnot...

Hope to see everyone when we come back to California next month!!

Mike

Easy Like Sunday Morning...and Evening

2008-04-15T17:01:00.007-04:00

So last weekend was my first weekend of being off the Sunday overnight shift...and thank God! It was actually nice to enjoy a full Sunday without having to worry about jumping on a train at 930 at night and heading downtown...

We started off Sunday with a brunch trip to the world famous Tavern on the Green restaurant in Central Park. We got to sit in the room that looks out on the garden, and it was amazing. It was like being in the middle of a Faberge Egg or carousel...just lots of pastels...flowers all over the place...very neat experience...plus the food was great. I had a goat cheese omelette and Jen had the eggs benedict on top of pepper jack biscuits with a Cajun crawfish hollandaise sauce...both were delicious....totally neat experience...we can't wait to take Mom and Dad Weiss the next time they come out....

After brunch, we came home, changed clothes, and it was off to KICKBALL with the social networking group up in our neck of the woods known as the UME (Upper Manhattan Experience)...great group of people who are totally fun to hang out with...

yep, kickball...you remember kickball, right? Played it when you were seven, lots of running around involved?? Well about 30 of us gathered at Inwood Hill Park Sunday morning to "kick it." We had been earlier divided into 2 teams, and Jen, myself and Dawn were all on the "Low Ballers"

And you know what? We were awesome! We had Jen bat (kick?) leadoff, and I'm proud to say that not only did she NOT injure herself (maybe I need to rethink her Evel Knievel nickname)..she got a hit (kick?) every time she was up!! In fact the only time she made an out was when she was on first and I kicked a fly ball that someone caught with less than 2 outs and we forgot to tell Jen that you don't want to run on that play...she was all the way to third by the time she realized she needed to come back...needless to say she was out by 40 feet, BUT we can go over the rules another time (see, babe, this is why you need to pay attention to me when I take you to baseball games!!)

As some folks know, I'm pretty competitive when it comes to sports...any sports (just ask Kevin and our bloody indoor Nerf basketball battles...or Mike and Dave and our trash talking air hockey wars)....much like Katie Neal, I don't like to lose (unlike Katie Neal, I don't resort to cheating when I am losing)....but losing was never going to happen for the Low Ballers!! Our team rocked...and we dominated the 9-inning contest 35-to-18. Yours truly went 6-for-7 (minus the previously noted fly ball) and Jen batted 1.000.

One of the members of the group (Claudia) spent the game taking pictures, and as soon as they get posted on the group website, we'll move some over here so you can see our athletic prowess captured on digital film...

That night, after having dinner at home, we went to the Piper's Kilt for karaoke night. Most of you know I can be talked into belting out a tune or two, especially if I have a couple of drinks in me. Well, karaoke nights at the Kilt are themed, and this one was "Kamikaze Karaoke"...that meant that someone else had to pick the song for you, and you weren't allowed to know what song you'd be singing until you hit the stage...

That means I couldn't rely on my old standbys (Cover of the Rolling Stone, Family Tradition, Secret Agent Man) to get by....so I wasn't even going to sing and was just going to take in the show, when another UME friend Jay strolled by and asked if I sang...actually I think Jen sold me out and told Jay to put my name in....he was at least friendly enough to ask what genre I would like, and I said "well, I'm pretty good with country music..."

He thought for a minute then snapped and said "I know the perfect song..." and off he went to put my name in...before coming back and saying, cryptically, "I picked the song...its a song I always like to hear sung at karaoke"

What the hell did that mean?? I spent the next 30 minutes racking my brain...could it be Ring of Fire? Rhinestone Cowboy? Friends in Low Places? What would it be...

So my name is called and I stride up there and the music begins and I look at the screen...and the lyrics "Well it was all that I could do to keep from crying.." hit the screen...and I immediately start laughing....its the old David Allen Coe song "You Never Even Call Me By My Name"

First off, thats one of my mother's favorite songs...second off, I know it pretty well, so off I go, and I make it through with a half-ass southern accent and some small theatrics...

Pictures of that, I believe, were also captured by Claudia and I'll post them as well when they do.

All in all, a pretty fun way to spend a Sunday...even if we returned home after midnight to the realization that I had to be up in 4 hours to go to work....

More Sundays like that are sure to come...we can't wait!!!

Mike (hmmm..sports themed...snarky comments..could it have been anything but a Mike post?)

Family Reunion Written by Mike, Illustrated by Jen

2008-04-09T14:46:00.009-04:00

Since we've been out here, we've gotten to see Jen's parents and both of our sisters, but my folks hadn't been able to make the trek out here...until last week. Yep, Barb and Jack rolled in on Thursday and were here until Sunday night. Mom had never been to NYC and Dad hadn't been since the early 80s, so they (and we) were in full tourist mode.

One of the funniest moments happened right off the bat. Jen had the day off, so she had gone down to meet my parents at the airport and ride the subway back with them to Inwood. I got off work early and beat them home, so I took Cooper down to the subway station to wait for them. Well, when they came up with their luggage, he noticed Jen...noticed the luggage, backed up (probably thinking "oh my God these bags are going to kill me"...thats our dog)...then he stopped for a minute, looked at my folks, REALIZED who it was, and flipped out in joy. It was hilarious to see him recognize them and then get really excited...Cooper loves his Grandma and Grandpa Watts!!

Where did we take them first? Well OF COURSE it was the PIPER'S KILT! Gotta love that, "Hey Mom? Dad? I know you want to see a bunch of stuff, but first you gotta check out the bar that Mike spends way too much time at..."

After that on Thursday, we took them down to the World Trade Center Site, then we came home and rested before attending Thursday night's Yankees-Blue Jays game at Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately, the wrong team won that night ($#^% Yankees!) but a good time was had by all.

Friday morning I had to work my normal shift, so the folks went down towards Jen's work and she got them into the Museum of Natural History. They then proceeded to spend about five hours there (can't say I blame them, I could spend five DAYS in there) and then took themselves (look at the parents, figuring out the subway!!) to Times Square and wandered around there. They returned to Jen's work to watch George Stephanopoulous (or as Mom likes to call him, "George Snuffleupagus") fill in for Charlie on the news, then I met up with them outside of Jen's work and we headed to Carmine's for dinner. Dawn was able to join us, which was great, so Mom and Dad could see that we do have friends here in this town. All five of us had a splendid meal.

Saturday was the big touristy day. Beginning with a walk pretty much through the entire lower half of Central Park. We then proceeded down to midtown, where Mom expressed a craving for a "genuine New York deli pastrami sandwich." Not a problem...we took them to the Carnegie Deli, where we proceeded to eat about 3 cattle worth of meat. After lunch, we headed down on the "1" train to the bottom of Manhattan and rode the Staten Island ferry out and back so they could get a good look at the Statue of Liberty. From there, it was back up to midtown and the Empire State Building. Jen and I sat that one out, and we decided to go drink while Mom and Dad were up there. Jen managed to run smack into a wall mantel (I swear, that girl could get injured in a padded room) but other than that, all went well. After the folks were done, we met up again, Jen and Mom did a little Macy's window shopping while Dad and I had an extra drink, then we came home and ordered in food following a long LOOOONG day of sightseeing.

Poor Dad, I think we tried to kill his bad knee with all the walking he did Saturday. As you can see, he's getting some sarcastic sympathy from his son.

On the other hand, he'll be in great conditioning spirit for his hockey tournament in Florida later this month, so...you're welcome Dad!!

Sunday we made it easy. Brunch at our favorite place up in our neighborhood, plus a wander around Inwood Hill Park with Cooper, then we headed up the hill to the Cloisters museum, where Mom and Dad wandered around for a bit before coming back to the house, and then waiting for the car to come pick them up and take them to the airport.

All in all, a really nice time, and it was so good to see my parents after six months of not viewing their smiling faces. We can't wait for their next trip out, and we can't wait to see them when we RETURN to California for vacation (36 days and counting!!)

Opening Day Running Diary (Rained Out)

2008-03-31T13:12:00.003-04:00

I have few rules in life, but one of them is this...anytime the Blue Jays are opening the season in the city I am now living in, I've gotta keep a running diary...and since I didn't feel like paying the 75 dollar minimum to get a ticket for Opening Day (the last Opening Day at Yankee Stadium), we'll do this one in front of the HD set:

1:03: We are LIVE from the Watts Mansion in New York City!! I'm joined by Cooper the dog, two slices of pepperoni pizza from the nearby pizza shack, a bag of Cheetos and two cans of Big Blue (the large Labatt Blue cans)...the Yankees are excited because its Opening Day, I'm excited because the Blue Jays are going to win this game, I can feel it, and Cooper's excited at the opportunity to grab a fallen Cheeto....everybody's fired up.

1:05: Uh oh...right out of the gate, we're in a rain delay. It is raining here in Inwood, not too bad though. Seems to be coming down harder in the Bronx (though its only 60 blocks away, how bad can it be?)...this running diary may be dead in the water before it even begins.

1:07: While we wait for the start of the game, announcers Dan Schulman and John "One-Ball" Kruk tell us that the Jay's Roy Halladay has a 7-1 record against the Yankees since 2003. Thats promising...he also has one of the coolest nicknames in sports: "Doc." Thats worth at least 2 or 3 outs...

1:10: ESPN takes us to "bonus" coverage of the Royals and Tigers while we wait out the rain delay. Let me just tell ESPN something: ANYTHING involving the Kansas City Royals should never be considered a "bonus"

1:17: The Royals go quietly in the top of the first. Leading us to our first commercial of the day: Flomax. "Who doesn't want to spend less time in the bathroom?" Is that a rhetorical question? By the way, common side effects of Flomax are runny nose, dizziness and a decrease in semen. I've got 37 jokes here and NONE of them are appropriate. Lets just move on.

1:25: Two on, two out for Miguel Cabrera in Cabrera' first AB for the Tigers since coming over from Florida in the blockbuster winter deal. Cabrera, who is supposed to be the next A-Rod, but actually looks like he ate A-Rod. He's listed at 230, but its more like 250. Do you want your supposed new franchise player looking like he just cleaned out the buffet line at Sizzler? I say no.
Cabrera flies out to end the inning.

1:28: A check in from Yankee Stadium says there is a "better weather window" beginning at 2pm, meaning the game will start sometime around then, hopefully. You know what, lets put the diary on hold until then, otherwise it'll get really long and I'll get some sarcastic comment from Katie Neal about being wordy ("Hello Pot? This is Kettle. You're black). Back at the start of the Jays-Yanks game.

2:30: Well, its official...the Jays Yanks game has been rained out. And this running diary had such promise. The game is being made up tomorrow night, but I don't think Jen will let me keep the computer long enough to do a diary as she'll be playing in her 47 Scrabulous games...oh well, one of these days...

Mike

News10 Friends

2008-03-29T00:34:00.005-04:00

Well, it's been a rough week. Mike got me sick- and I spent Wednesday and Thursday watching cheesy movies with Cooper and a box of Kleenex.

(editorial note: Mike did NOT get Jen sick. Granted, Mike was sick the week prior, but Jen didn't become ill until 3 days later, and she had different symptoms...she has no one to blame for her illness but herself...so there.)

On Friday I turned the corner and felt better- good thing too. George, Sharon and Sammie were in the city for a visit.

Being away from everything you have ever known really makes you appreciate those that you do know and the friends that you have.

It's so so so nice seeing friends and people you know! Especially old coworkers. News10 was like a family to me in so many ways- maybe I'm just getting sappy after watching Dan Adams' goodbye pkg on news10.net http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=40064

But it's true- you spend just as much time with your co-workers as you do your family- if not more.

So the Warren Clan came to visit at work.
Here's a quick shot. of the fam along w/ another ex-News10er Chris Spitzer.

Chris and I showed them around the network and hung out with them for a few hours and then they went on their way to enjoy the city.

On Saturday, they came up to our neighborhood - Inwood. Sammie and Cooper got reacquainted- they were good friends back in Sacramento - the hung out during News10's softball games.

We went to brunch and then up to explore the Cloisters. Owned by the Met the Cloisters is a medieval castle filled with art from all Gothic and medieval times- really cool and a great view of the city. http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_Of_Art/the_cloisters

It's about a 10-15 minute walk from our place. It was really cool.

It's a beautiful day today - the suns out and it's in the upper 40's- which is warm to me now!

Next weekend Mikes parents come to visit. Yay!! We're so excited.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Miss you all!

Jen

What's On Mike's iPod: Part 1

2008-03-26T09:58:00.006-04:00

When Jen said she wanted an iPod for Christmas a few months back, I thought "that'll be nice for her to have, but I don't think I'll ever get one..." I didn't think I needed one all that bad, so I bought hers for Christmas and then watched her load it up with songs and videos and games and stuff...

Suddenly, I really REALLY wanted one...iPods are essential in New York...you're always traveling somewhere, especially if you live way up north in Manhattan like we do. I've got a 30 minute subway ride to work one-way each day, and I can only read so many magazines...so a few weeks after Christmas, I used my Christmas money (thanks Mom and Grandma!!) to buy myself an iPod Nano as well...

Well as many people know about me, I'm a music afficiando, and I listen to just about anything and everything you can imagine...from Top 40 stuff to random songs I've found on sheer dumb luck or stumbled upon through my life. If you ask my friends back in the college years, it was never a stretch to climb into my car and listen as I played a mix CD that featured George Jones, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Sheryl Crow, Beck and Vince Gill all back-to-back.

There are currently 343 songs on my iPod. I like to think that I have a pretty good range of songs on my iPod, though I have some eyebrow raisers as well. We won't hit them all in this post obviously, but I'll try and give you a little peek into my musical realm, and maybe you'll find something you like as well...or maybe you'll just ridicule me for having not one, but THREE Hanson songs on my iPod. Who knows?

And by the way, I hate, absolutely HATE people who try to be music critics and slam certain types of music. My philosophy has, and always will be, if its fun and I can sing along to it, or at least enjoy the songwriting aspects of it, I'm going to like it. So there'll be no pretentious comments in these musings.

Without further ado, the first part of What's On Mike's iPod:

1. Give It Up
by: Public Enemy

Look, you either like Public Enemy, or you don't like music. (well, so much for the pretentious comments promise...that lasted long....but still) While this song isn't as good as "Fight The Power," its still a damn good song, mixing political dissertations and hip-hop beats. Plus, its nice to remember Flavor Flav as only mildly amusing, as opposed to the over-the-top joke he has become thanks to the geniuses over at VH1. I keep waiting for the very special episode of "Flavor of Love" where Chuck D shows up at Flav's house and kicks the shit out of him for becoming a nation-wide joke.

2. It's Always Raining Somewhere
by: Robbie Fulks

Robbie is one of those guys who is too country for rock, and too rock or at the very least alt-country for country. He's been around for years, but this song came off of his Georgia Hard album about 4 years ago. Mike Baldwin and I got the chance to interview him at KDVS in Davis when he came through to do a show and the Mike and Mike program was still alive and well. It was 45 minutes of laughter, good music, and all around fun. Robbie's a funny guy, as his lyrics show, and he's quickly become one of my top 5 favorite artists, period.

3. Secret Agent Man
by: Johnny Rivers

Hard to meet someone who doesn't know this song, since its been around for 40 plus years. Its also quickly becoming my new standard for karaoke, though don't worry, I still do a mean Hank Jr. for Family Tradition.

4. The Devil Is High
by: The Titanics
I heard this song as my friend Emma and I drove around Australia in January 2001. I ended up buying their whole album (Love Is The Devil) and its probably one of the best all-around albums of all time. Of course, the band disbanded shortly after releasing this album and this was their only album. You can't even find it on Amazon-dot-com, but you can probably get it on eBay or maybe Australian music websites. I highly recommend it if you like guitar rock with a little psychadelia mixed in.

5. Bingo Fever
by: Da Yoopers

The Yoopers are a comedy skit troupe from Michigan's Upper Peninsula. They're funny as hell and have put out some great songs. This is one of them, about a man lamenting his wife's addictive bingo habit. It always reminds me of my paternal grandma, who had a SERIOUS bingo addiction in her later years.

6. Where's The Love
by: Hanson

OK, before everyone dies laughing, or begins to ask for my man card, let me explain. I....ok I have no explanation. I just like this song. Its catchy, its fun, and...you know, I'd better stop talking. Lets just move on.

7. The Right Time
by: Hoodoo Gurus

More Australian rockers. That was one of the things about going to Australia back in 2001, all the great music I found out about. There are hundreds of bands over there that are awesome but of course don't get ANY play over here in North America. In fact, here's a website to one of the radio stations over there, called Triple J.

http://triplej.abc.net.au

When you have time, click over there and take a listen for about 30 minutes. You won't be disappointed.

As for the Hoodoo Gurus, they've been around forever, and actually DID get some college rock play here in the States back in the 80s. Good good stuff.

8. She'd Rather Be Homeless
by: Bobby Bare

In 1998, country music legends Waylon Jennings, Bobby Bare, Mel Tillis and Jerry Reed formed to put out an album under the moniker "Old Dogs." All of the songs on the album were written by noted author and poet Shel Silverstein. This one, in particular, is one of the wryly funniest songs in awhile, and Bobby Bare sings it as only he can.

9. Picture Book
by: The Kinks

I had never heard this Kinks song until it ended up playing in some commercial, I think for HP or Kodak. Very Beatles-esque. Its a hard to find song, but I think iTunes has it.

10. Guilty Conscience
by: Eminem/Dr. Dre

One of Slim Shady's first songs, off his breakthrough album. A story of people getting themselves into situations, and having to deal with Eminem (as the devil) and Dr. Dre (as the angel) on their shoulders...of course, the song ends with a guy shooting his wife and her lover...gotta love happy endings in rap songs...sheesh...pretty witty though, especially when Enimen asks if these people should be taking advice "from someone who slapped Dee Barnes" (for those who don't know, Dre slapped the female rapper back in the day as retaliation for her interviewing Ice Cube and him making derogatory comments about NWA...how do I remember all this stuff??

11. Sledgehammer
by: Peter Gabriel

One of my favorite 80s songs, and I know Dave likes it when I do the Peter Gabriel faces from the video.

12. Help Yourself
by: Tom Jones

I used to go marlin fishing with Tom Jones in the late 70s. We'd drink, haul in 500 pound marlins, and then go turn Tampa Bay upside down. Tom wrote this next song after we made a buffet restaurant stay open at gunpoint while we ate everything they had...awww Tom...hope you like it.

(If you know the movie reference, 10 points to you)

13. Alcohol
by: Barenaked Ladies

Most folks know that BNL is my favorite band. They've put out great album after great album, and great song after great song. This is one of them, all about imbibing.

14. Papa Was A Rodeo
by: The Magnetic Fields

While I never heard of the Magnetic Fields until I heard them in Australia, they are a New York band fronted by Stephen Merritt, who has a great, low-tone voice that makes all of their songs interesting. This song, about traveling entertainers, is good for its down-beat feeling and great lyrics.

15. Baby Likes To Rock It
by: The Tractors

Right now, Kevin, Mike and Dave are all cringing. Why? Because they've had to hear this song roughly 7,832,568 times in their life because of me. Its my favorite song. It will always be my favorite song. And they're probably destined to hear it another 7-million times.

The Tractors came out in 1994 as kind of a bluesy-rock Americana country band, which was different then what was being played on country radio at the time. Garth Brooks, Clint Black, and Alan Jackson still owned the country airwaves, but the Tractors made some noise with this song, and a couple of others. They released a few more albums, but none were as good as their self-titled debut. There isn't a bad song on the album, but this is the most well-known, and for good reason, because it rocks.

The video is equally entertaining. Take a look for yourself.

Well, thats a quick peek into my listening likings. Future recaps of my iPod will touch on my love for Johnny Cash, more songs from out of left field, especially from my days at KDVS and the Mike and Mike show, as well as my defense for having not one, but THREE Backstreet Boys in the grouping...

Mike

California Dreamin'!!

2008-03-23T01:12:00.007-04:00

OK, Californians...its official...the countdown has begun to until our official return to the "Golden State"...allbeit a temporary return...

We've booked our tickets, Cooper's picked out his seats, and the three of us will be returning on May 16th.

We fly in to San Francisco that Friday to attend Sister Jen's graduation ceremony at USF for completing her masters program (yay Sister Jen!!)...

then we'll be headed to Sac-Town...more specifically Roseville, where we'll be shacking up with my parents

So save the dates, Northern Californians...we hope to see as many people as we can...perhaps we'll even hold an open house or something that weekend where people can drop by...who knows...something will take place though....

Then mid-week we head to So Cal for Cousin Dorie's wedding...it'll be a party...a festival...a great time and we can't wait!!

We hope to see as many Southern California friends as we can down there as well!

So mark your calendars, and see you in May!!!

Mike, Jen and Cooper (the original jet-set pet)

Boston, Plymouth Rock, and Cape Cod

2008-03-17T21:00:00.012-04:00

It's was a full- but awesome- 3 days.

Dorie's shower was fun, it was so great to see her and fun to celebrate her engagement. It was at her friend Erica's house in Newton, MA-- just outside of Boston. The shower was a pink theme which was super cute and fun.

Here are a few pictures....

By the way... I forgot to mention - I got bangs! I went for the Katie Holmes look. :)

Do you like?

Anyhow, after the shower Mike and Cooper picked me up from the shower and we went to Peet's Coffee! As many of you know- we love Peet's. There are no Peet's in NY. Boo! There are a couple of Peets though in and around the Boston are.. Hooray!

Afterwards we went to our hotel. It was really nice the Westin Waterfront hotel. It was on the "Seaport" side of Boston and most importantly they were Cooper friendly! After relaxing for a bit we decided to grab some food. We didn't want room service, but we didn't want to leave Cooper in the hotel by himself either so we drove around the city looking for food that looked easy to get "to go."
Well, Boston is a CRAZY city to drive in. It's like a circle, the streets all switch directions and then end.. Its very complicated. Anyhow, we got lost and ended up driving past the cheers bar. So, we pulled over and took a picture! :)

Anyhow, we eventually found a burger place. Mike ran in while Coop dog and I circled the circles. It turned out really good. It was a Zagat rated place that was supposed to be the number one burger in the city- who knew? We lucked out.

Anyhow, we made it back to the hotel (eventually) ate- and rested up for a big day.
One of the main attractions in Boston is the Freedom Trail walk. It's a 3 hour walk at your own pace tour through all the historical Boston sites.

On Monday we drove home by way of Plymouth- like the rock where the Pilgrims landed and then onto Cape Cod where we had lunch.

It was a GREAT trip. Here's a slide show of the sites we saw

Places To Go, People To See

2008-03-13T21:18:00.003-04:00

So last weekend we went to Greenwich, CT for the day. Our friends from Sacramento Will & Jen Selva now live in Farmington, CT and Greenwich is the half way point between Farmington and Manhattan. Mike and I took the Metro North train from Grand Central Station up. It was a nice ride... comfortable leather seats... pretty scenery.... only about 45 minutes. Not bad.

Greenwich is a very cute town. Very upscale, old and cute. When I say old, I just don't mean the town- the people are old too. Old and Wealthy.

We had dinner at this really great place called the Thataway Cafe. Great Food, Good Prices. Now, here's where the old part comes in.. When we got there I went to the restroom. In the stalls there is a switch - looks like a light switch- with a sign above that says in case of emergency or you need assistance. Not only do they have a switch like that in the stalls, but there is a cord attached to it that goes all the way to the floor so from any position you may find yourself in you can reach it. All I could think of were those Life Alert commercials from the late 80's or early 90's- "help, I've fallen and I can't get up!!"

I was going to go back in with a camera and take a photo of it- but Mike was making fun of me and didn't think I should go into the bathroom with a camera.

All in all it was a great time. So nice to see familiar faces and enjoy the company of good friends.

This weekend Mike, Cooper, and I are heading to Boston for a 3 day weekend. We're renting a car on Friday and driving up early Saturday morning. It's supposed to be about a 4 to 4 1/2 hour drive.

Saturday afternoon is my cousin Dorie's bridal shower just outside of Boston. Mike and Cooper will drop me off and then head into the city to find our hotel and check in. We're staying at the Westin Boston Waterfront. It's downtown and dog friendly. They actually have a special pet care package waiting to greet Cooper with once he arrives.

By the way- There's a Peet's Coffee in Boston! It's the closest one to NYC. I can't wait.

Ode to Number 4

2008-03-04T12:51:00.007-05:00

So I woke up this morning to the news I was hoping would never come, but knew that it had to happen eventually...

Brett Favre has retired...

And with that....my love of the NFL dims considerably...it just won't be the same without him.

Where to begin? I began following the Packers as my NFL team in 1988...Don "The Magic Man" Majkowski was their quarterback, and they were mediocre at best...then in 1992, Brett Favre took the helm, and began to lead the Packers on a ride that can best be described as "up-and-down"...but never unmemorable.

Sundays became an event for me. If the Pack were playing on regular TV, friends and family knew not to bother me...if the only way I could find them was on the NFL package, I traveled to a friend's house who bought the cable package just to be able to watch them (and then fight over the remote with my friend, a die-hard 49ers fan)

When they beat the Patriots in 96 to win the Super Bowl...it was one of the top five moments of my life....when they lost the Super Bowl to Denver the next year, I was devastated for days...

As Favre played on into the 2000s, and the team behind him began to crumble, it became increasingly frustrating to watch the Pack...with mediocre players around him, Brett seemed to think that he needed to gamble more often and tried to make tougher plays that his body just couldn't handle...

when Green Bay dropped to 4-and-12 in 2005, that was about the lowest you could get...at that point, I was ready for Favre to go...as far as I was concerned, his legacy was being tarnished...it was time to hang it up...

Then in 2006, with the Packers 4-and-8, suddenly, everything started clicking...the Packers won their last 4 games and just missed the playoffs...the final game, a victory over the Bears on New Year's Eve...Jen and I were watching as we got ready to go to a party in LA...afterwards, when they asked Brett if he was going to call it a day, you could see the emotion...I really thought that was going to be it...

But then, he decided to come back...as 2007 approached, my friends asked me, "are you ready for another go-round with number 4?"

And honestly, I wasn't...as I frequently told people "there isn't enough Maalox on the planet to get me through another season." Every time Brett dropped back to throw, I was ready for anything...a completion through triple coverage...an interception with no Packer in sight, hell I was ready for the pass to knock the nachos out of the hands of the kid in the 6th row...

Then the season started...and they beat the Eagles in the season opener...and then destroyed the Giants at the Meadowlands...then eeked out a win over San Diego...three wins they had no businss getting according to the "experts" ...hell, according to me! I thought they'd lose all three...

Eventually, the season became one for the ages...win after win after win...as I sat on my couch now in New York City with my mouth agape...how were they doing this? Such a young team, how was this possible...???

When they clinched the playoff spot, I was estatic. When they suddenly gained home field advantage for the NFC Championship game with Dallas' playoff loss, I thought "holy crap, this might actually happen....they could make the Super Bowl" Does anyone think the Packers wouldn't have beaten the Patriots in the Super Bowl?? Hell, the whole LEAGUE would have been rooting for that to happen, and you know the Commissioner would have made it happen...

But when the Giants upset them at Lambeau in -23 wind chill degree weather, I was upset, but it didn't last as long...actually not much more than a minute...to me, it was amazing they had gotten this far, and frankly, I just began thinking about next year...and thinking, "well they'll be good again!"

Now, all that seems pretty unlikely...Aaron Rodgers is now our quarterback, and I can't imagine another NFC Championship game appearance, much less a Super Bowl appearance, with Aaron Rodgers at the helm...

So the era ends, with Brett saying he's "mentally tired". Some have said he's angry the Pack didn't go out and get Randy Moss. Others say he could still change his mind and unretire in a few weeks...God, I hope that happens...though in my opinion its highly unlikely...

One game stands out over all the others...his performance against the Raiders on Monday night in 2003 the night after his father died of a heart attack while driving in Mississippi. He had the opportunity to go home...he decided to stay and play because, he said, his father would have wanted him to...then he went out and shredded the Raider D for 399 yards passing and 4 touchdowns in a rout...

I remember watching that game with tears in my eyes the whole time...people were crying in the stands (in OAKLAND!)...Raider fans were actually cheering whenever Brett threw a TD...those highlights come up every now and then, and I get the same tears...heck, Jen even came across them one night and started crying (though to be fair, she'll cry over a fairly mild commercial)...the point being...if you don't get a little misty watching those highlights and knowing the backstory, there's something hugely wrong with you....

So thanks Brett...thanks from a 12-year-old boy who was fortunate enough to pick the right team to follow 4 years before you came to the team...thanks from a 20-year-old man who got to see his team win a Super Bowl...thanks from a 27-year-old man who went home and hugged his own father after that Raider game...and thanks from a 31-year-old man who has spent the last 2 hours remembering all of the good memories in his life that are connected to the Green Bay Packers and number 4....

Basically, thanks for the past 17 years...you'll be missed....

Mike

Snow, Lots of Snow (by California Standards of course)

2008-02-28T22:04:00.006-05:00

Last Friday it snowed. For like 6 hours straight. It wasn't evil, icy, pierce your skin hateful snow. It was happy, fluffy, fat snowflakey snow. Like in a Disney movie when snow falls and happy music plays kind of snow.

Anyhow, it snowed Thursday night into Friday morning and I got to walk into work in it. It was so fun!

Here's what it looked like that morning.

This is our building.

This is the route I take to the subway from our place. It's Cooper Street Made picking this apartment easy, I figured because the cross street was called Cooper it was fate!

My feet in the snow while walking to the subway on my way into work.

Self Portrait in the Snow.

On Sunday Mike and I took Cooper the Great to the park. It was like a picture perfect postcard. Everything was covered in snow and the sun was out. It was 40 degrees outside and lovely. 40 degrees is warm to me now... heck it's a heatwave!

Cooper in the snow - Sportin' his I love NY sweatshirt.

The park near our house- Inwood Hill Park It's at the top of the island of Manhattan.

Salt water marsh at the top of the park.

These are the baseball fields- Kids spent the day building snow people.

Families used the hillsides in the park for sledding- It looked super fun!

Cooper had a blast!!! He's decided that he loves the snow.

Afterwards- Cooper needed a bath. He thought it was a crummy end to a fabulous day. I thought it was great!! I love when he's a fluffy fur ball after he gets a bath.

Oh Happy Day (A Jen Post)

2008-02-28T21:15:00.007-05:00

Our old laptop - may it rest in peace.

And now--- tada---- we have a brand new laptop. It's a Gateway and it's great! It's super light weight and it works- which makes it fabulous.

Until now I haven't been able to get pictures off of our camera because the old laptop couldn't handle it. As you can imagine I have lots of making up to do.

First of all... I got the Uggs. They are great. Super warm and I hate wearing anything else on my feet.

As you read in an earlier post my sister Rebecca came and stayed with me for a girls weekend while Mike was at that hockey thing in Atlanta. Here are some of the pics from that visit.

We went to this fabulous restaurant on the Upper Westside called Rain. It was NYC restaurant week and my coworker Dawn went with us. It was great food, but a snotty waitress. They gave us a $40 gift card as a Thank You for coming in during restaurant week. Mike and I used them last night. So Good!!! Nicer waitress too. This is us at Rain.

This is the chocolate Dessert at Rain.

The day before Mike left for Atlanta was the day Rebecca arrived. I met her at the airport and then we went to Peter's- a bar near my work that we hang out at. That's where we meant up w/ Will and Jenn Selva. Here are the pics from that night ....

The Jen's

Mike & Will

The Watts' & The Selva's