I forgot how busy NYC is during the holidays! A few years ago, while living in Fairfield Country, I journeyed into the city to see the decorations at Grand Central Terminal and Rockefeller Center and to go window-shopping at some of the more famously decorated shops. Well, I went back this weekend with my parents and my brother Brendan to visit family in Kew Gardens, Queens. We had tickets to the Radio City holiday show, so we took the subway in a little early to see the Rockefeller tree and skating rink and to wander around the area a little. It was a complete mob scene! I have no idea how we kept track of my cousin and her two little boys, let alone how we were able to find my other brother Steve and his g/f Mary (who joined us from NJ).
Anyway, the show at Radio City Music Hall was the highlight of the afternoon. It lasted about two hours and was pretty well-rounded ... I felt like it was geared toward the younger crowd, but had enough going on to engage the older members of the audience as well. In fact, my brothers and I were convinced that some of the costumes worn by the Rockettes were designed to fulfill a few male Christmas fantasies! Regardless, the orchestra did a quality job with the Christmas carols and the actor who played Santa carried the show. Afterwards, we lucked out and found a cozy restaurant called Marlowe's just west of Times Square. The whole weekend was a fun way to wrap up the holiday season. Now it's time to gear up for New Years ...
Sunday, December 29, 2002 @ 21:50 » 
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Merry Christmas! Looks like it might be a white2 one, too ... the record snowfall on December 25th is 3.3 inches, but we're supposed to beat that this year. They're forecasting as much as a foot in parts of MA!
We bought a larger tree this year, too, just like we used to years ago. It's 12 feet tall, so it just fits (the ceiling is 13 feet high). My mother made a Christmas stocking for each us when we were babies, too, and we hang them over the fireplace next to the tree. It's a really nice scene and only a small sample of the decorations that my mother puts up each year. There are evergreen garlands, Nutcrackers, statues (of angels and carolers) and more all over the main floor of the house. You're a real Grinch if you can't get into the Christmas spirit around here.
Wednesday, December 25, 2002 @ 01:23 » Comments
Just three more days to Christmas! I should probably start shopping soon, huh? Too bad I hear the malls are mobbed, though. I guess I'll have to play it smart. I know what I need to get for everyone; it's just a matter of buying everything. It's not like I've been sitting around, though ... I have legitimate reasons for waiting so long: too much work and too many parties! In fact, I might have gone shopping this weekend if my cousin Meg hadn't invited us to her old roommates' annual holiday party. They take over the second floor of the Crossroads Pub on Beacon St at Mass Av and celebrate all night long. This year was even better than last, which was the first time I'd gone. Jason and I started playing darts early and, after a few good beers, settled into the $6 pitchers of PBR. By the end of the night, all of our friends were drinking PBR, too. It got a little crazy, but not out of hand ... the way any good party should. I just don't want to wait another year for Dan and Cindy's next event.
Sunday, December 22, 2002 @ 15:47 » Comments
I got a great e-mail earlier today. I guess a couple of Boston University alumni who are meeting in Boston this weekend stumbled across my site and decided to "steal" (their word, not mine) one of my pub crawl routes for Saturday afternoon. They even sent me an invitation to join them! Unfortunately, I'm heading to a few Christmas parties, but I would probably take them up on their offer otherwise. I hope they have fun! Here's one of the better quotes from their e-mail:
I found your stuff on the web and it is impressive, but as a Met fan, your abuse of Mr. Met troubles me. However, like the US government, I am more than willing to overlook human and/or mascot rights abuses and embrace and endorse a raving lunatic strong-man who can throw a good party. You, sir, are a public servant and a patriot. Feel free to join us, several rounds will be on us.
Thursday, December 19, 2002 @ 22:41 » Comments
Thank you to everyone who made Saturday night one of the best birthdays ever! I can't believe how well it went. To begin the night, Shelley and John arranged dinner at the Rock Bottom with some of my closest friends. I was expecting it to be just the three of us, so I was surprised when Marc, Lizz, Meredith, Mark and Karen joined us. They treated me to a filling meatloaf and mashed potato dinner, with two kinds of cake and a few rounds of the Rock Bottom's Munich Gold beer. Eating so much ended up being a good idea, since I was joined by over 30 friends at the Beacon Hill Pub later on ... and they weren't stingy with the birthday drinks. Rob personally bought about eight of the 26 drinks I had throughout the night (at one point he and I did five straight kamikaze shots). Ana, who drove up from NY at the last minute to be there for me (love ya!), was the evening's other all-star. She brought a few girls over to kiss the birthday boy. Although I'm not big on meeting people at bars, I didn't mind the attention! The best birthday present was waking up without a hangover on Sunday, though. I rarely get them, but with only six hours sleep and a full day bartending at one of my parents' Christmas parties I could have been miserable.
Tuesday, December 17, 2002 @ 01:04 » Comments
I wanted to head out after work yesterday, but was having trouble tracking down companions for an adventure. I finally met up with a few old coworkers for happy hour, though, and we ended up at the Rattlesnake around 8.00p. Out of the blue, my new friend Amy (we met on the pub crawl last weekend) stopped by looking for a friend. The friend had already left, so she had a pint with us instead. A little later, my brother Steve showed up with his g/f Mary and her roommate Katrina. My sister and her b/f Jason also wanted to join us, but not until her company's Christmas party had finished. When they arrived, it was obvious that they'd taken advantage of the party's open bar, so the conversations were a riot. Here's how one of them went after Jason found out that Steve was accepted into the State Police Academy (only 200 of the 16,000 applicants were offered spots).
Jason: You're gonna be a state trooper? Nice!
Steve: Yeah, and I'll arrest you for being drunk and disorderly if I ever see you like this again.
Jason: Oh really? Well, you might as well arrest me for being drunk, too ... how about that?
Steve: Um, yeah ... I'll arrest you for being drunk and disorderly. And drunk.
Jason: Uh-huh!
My sister also brought along Megan and her fiance Matt. Megan and I dated for a while, but we're still friends and now she works with my sister. Even though we get together occasionally and keep in touch by phone or e-mail, this was my first opportunity to meet Matt and I wasn't sure how it would go. I know that I might not be too keen about meeting my future wife's ex-boyfriend. We talked for a while at the Rattlesnake, though, and he seems like a great guy. The two of them make a perfect couple and I'm really happy for them.
Oh, when we got back to Mary's apartment we flipped on Letterman and caught some guy in the middle of a stand-up routine. I immediately recognized him as someone I knew at Georgetown named Mike Birbiglia3 ... he's apparently been making a name for himself as a stand-up comedian. We were laughing our asses off, so I'd totally recommend catching him when he comes to town. It's good to see that people I knew back in the day are doing something fun and being successful at it.
Saturday, December 14, 2002 @ 13:34 » Comments
And I thought I was lucky! This guy won the lottery4 ... twice. And on the same day! They weren't piddly little payouts either; one was for $17 million and the other was for $126,000. Someone figured out that the odds of doing this were one in 23 trillion.
Thursday, December 12, 2002 @ 19:00 » Comments
What's the first question you expect to hear when you go for a haircut? Probably something like "What style are you going for?" or (even more obvious) "How would you like your hair cut?" ... right? Well, there's this place that I've been going to recently and they do things a little differently. "Would you like a beer?" is the first thing they want to know. And it gets better; they've got scotch, vodka ... whatever you'd like. I can't imagine you'd have too many complaints about the quality of your cut if you've put back a few while getting it.
Thursday, December 12, 2002 @ 16:22 » Comments
For my Aunt Rose's birthday, we had a party here in Salem and then went down to a winter jazz concert at the Peabody Essex Museum. The trio (a singer, bassist and guitarist) performed quite a few good songs, but my favorite had to be their version of Burt Bacharach's What the World Needs Now Is Love. Yeah baby, yeah. I bought one of their CDs afterwards, but I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.
Sunday, December 08, 2002 @ 20:43 » Comments
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