Just came back from a weekend trip to Washington, DC, where Greg's brother, Jeff, is stationed with the Secret Service. Greg's parents were there, too, to help celebrate a second Christmas Saturday morning. Very briefly, the weekend involved setting up a new foosball table, a party, and a very, very cold and wind-driven outdoor tour of the usual tourist haunts. Brrr, and you think i would be accustomed to this cold by now. At least i'm not in Buffalo. Their seven feet of snow makes the little flurry that we had in the city last friday look like nothing. Okay, so it wasn't really a flurry. Okay, there were maybe three snowflakes.

Hey, lookie here; it's the last day of the year!

[permalink] ::

Overheard on the bus yesterday morning:

Ah, the spirit of Christmas...

We went to a taping of the The Late Show today. Alastair managed to swipe a couple of extra tickets for us from work, and after I got a quickie haircut, we trudged down to the Ed Sullivan Theater at 2pm where we met him and his sister, Simone. The security there is unbelievable. Metal detectors and all. And of course all the staff there to pump some energy into the audience. They keep the theater so cold! (to keep the humour fresh, they say)... The guest tonight was Rudy Giuliani; he is quite the consummate politician. Musical guest was POD. Dave Letterman, as usual, was hilarious. Paul Shaffer is a lot shorter than I thought. We'll be watching tonight...

[permalink] ::

Just came back from Southington, Connecticut, where we spent Christmas with Greg's Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Ralph and an assortment of cousins, second cousins, more aunts and uncles, and his parents. It was a bit unnerving to meet all the extended family for the first time, but things went pretty smoothly. Too bad I have to work tomorrow... So goes the circle of corporate life...

[permalink] ::

Merry Christmas!!!

[permalink] ::

Greg, Chris and I just came back from the movies. I'm sorry, but as much as I thought Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was enjoyable, Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring kicked major ass was even more so enjoyable.

[permalink] ::

My allergies acted up today. Which is odd, because it's winter. So I popped an Allegra this morning and sat back, waiting for my constant sneezing to abate. No luck: I sneezed myself way into the afternoon, artfully dodging whatever meetings I had scheduled and staring woozily at my PC throughout the day. (What's the shelf life of Allegra, anyway?) By four o'clock, my body had begun to feel the ominous aches and pains of an impending cold, so I packed myself up early and left for home. Which is too bad, because today is the shared birthday of two of my colleagues. Oh well, I bought lunch today for seven of them at the Lipstick Café. But on the other hand, if I hadn't left early, I wouldn't have seen my celebrity sighting du jour: Jane Curtain. She's a lot shorter than she looks on tv.

Destiny's Child is belting out a few Christmas numbers on Oprah. I'm munching on some General Tso's chicken from China Fun. Why do I get this? I hate it, and yet I can't help myself from ordering it. I need a few new menus.

[permalink] ::

Greg's cousin, Tom, is crashing tonight at the apartment. And it's his birthday. Happy birthday, Tom.

[permalink] ::

We got our bonus and salary increases today. Every year it's the same drill: we sit at our desk frozen with anticipatory fear until each of our phones rings. Then, one by one, we file silently into our senior Managing Director's office where both bosses sit with the spreadsheet. They slide a sheet of paper over to you and make some comment. You look at it, blink a few times (remember to blink!) and smile politely. You shake hands, maybe get a pat on the back, and then leave for your desk to mull things over. As you near your desk, your colleague's phone rings. It's his turn.

[permalink] ::

Just came back in from a colleague's birthday celebration at a new bar called Nessa. Not too shabby, but I didn't feel like staying, and so I only had a couple of beers, a few wings and a some random nachos here and there. She turned 22 today. Boy, that makes me feel old for some reason.

We took the 650s out last Saturday for what was probably the last ride of the season, and I managed to just about freeze every part of my body off. I wore my summer gloves (I have to get some winter gloves) and by the end of the ride I barely managed to feel the throttle and shifter, much less the indicators and horn. BMW makes a nice heated vest that plugs right into the accessory socket; gotta get one of those some day, too.

[permalink] ::

Two words: holiday party. Two more words: open bar.

So we had our company party last night and, of course, the after-party, bar-hopping ritualistic boozing the night away was in full swing until about 4am when our collective voices could no longer yell the lyrics to "Dead or Alive" at Red Rock. Through my current sleep-deprived state of alcohol-induced sluggishness, I vaguely remember firebreathing waitresses/bartenders with snakeprint faux-leather pants, pouring liberal amounts of liquour down the bare chests of hapless customers whose shirts had been unceremoniously ripped into shreds. "We don't get paid for being here, you know. So give it up with the tips," was the line being bellowed into the microphones. Countless shots, beers and mixed drinks later, we could barely keep up with the buxom girls gyrating violently on the countertop. A last-minute trip to a karaoke bar was cancelled after the suitably drunken masses had filtered out, and it was time to head home to our various charges.

After a brief two-hour respite, I once again crawled out of bed and into the very real world of work. Life can be so cruel.

[permalink] ::

Okay, here goes my first foray into the blogging world.

I just got back last night from a five-day trip to San Antonio with Greg. That's where his folks are, and I believe I'm all caught up on my sleep deficit for, oh, just about the next year or so. We had a wonderfully relaxing time there. Got to see the spanking new Pearl Harbour exhibit at the National Museum of the Pacific War. It was the first weekend the exhibit was open to the public, and there were a lot of veterans out and about. Saw the Alamo of course, had a second Thanksgiving dinner, and went to the range to shoot off a few rounds at a hapless target. Shot several rounds with two 22 semis and a 45 revolver with a mother of a recoil (pop, pop, bang!!!).

Let's see how this goes...

[permalink] ::