Catching Up
I forgot to mention that we went to my friend Jen's wedding last month. When I was living at home in my early 20's, we were the best of friends. Once I left for YCP, we didn't talk anywhere near as much. I got to take off a Friday and we drove up to Bethlehem, PA, a town that I had driven through many times but never stopped. Apparently, I didn't miss too much.
The ceremony was very Catholic with a mass and everything. My buddy Mike showed up just in time to keep Jen from having second thoughts and walking out the front door "These things never start on time" hehe.
We had a good chuckle at the old couple in front of us to made their own monogrammed handkerchiefs: they wrote a big "A" on it in magic marker.
The reception was in downtown Bethlehem in the historic Hotel Bethlehem. It looks like it'd be a great place for a weekend getaway. Cara is so hot. Plenty of shopping and bars within a couple of blocks of the hotel.
The cocktail hour was nice with the open bar and hors d'oevres. (sp?) Cara was drinking big margaritas on the rocks, Mike was drinking Yuenglings, and I really don't remember what I was drinking. We also had some brie, fruit, crackers, and some kind of stuffed mushroom or stuffed puff pastry.
The dinner was on a once-open terrace that has since been enclosed by windows that made up two of the walls providing a nice view on the main street on one side, and a great view of the local landscape on another. Through the entrance to the terrace, we could watch some local high schoolers attending their prom.
We sat with Mike and his date/girlfriend Ale, an old friend Meredith and her fiancee, and some 'fabulous' guy who works with Jen. The women at our table were all smitten with this guy, not surprisingly. He must've talked for 10 minutes about the cigarette holder he bought.
Dinner was very nice. The buffet consisted of a pasta table where I had some penne with a garlic alfredo-type sauce and you could choose from a few throw-ins such as mushrooms, minced garlic, and bell peppers.
The next table had roast turkey and prime rib with mustard, horseradish, and some unnoteworthy sauce. Finally, and much to Cara's delight, they had a mashed potato station with various fixin's like bacon, chives, cheese, and roasted garlic. The only drawback was that the attention to each individual's order slowed down the line as there was only one mashed potato engineer working.
Dessert, natually, was wedding cake. Afterward they brought out a small tray of cold anti pasti. I had some pepperoni, olives, and some other stuff. We had a good laugh at Mike's expense. he spent nearly 5 minutes talking about how good he is at handling hot/spicy foods. he had one pepper and it caused him to cough, hiccup, and start sweating a bit. He couldn't finish anything else.
I did make his day at last call when I got him two more beers and a double scotch on the rocks for myself.
Somehow I managed to drive back to my folks place that night. We had tickets to the yankees-A's game that afternoon at the Stadium. We got there just in time for the overcast clouds to break and the sun came out. As a bonus, it was cap day!
We were lucky enough to see the last appearance for the year of Tanyon Sturtze. it's really something to hear 50,000+ people groan in unison.
After the game we headed up to Westchester to pick up my grandmother and we all went out for dinner as a birthday bash celebration for Cara and myself. We had a huge Italian dinner.
the following day, we started our drive home with a detour into central PA to wish Cara's mom a happy Mother's Day. It was a welcome surprise to her and it really made her day.
it was a tiring, yet very fun and satisfying weekend.
I had a great time seeing Mike and Jen. I don't think I'd seen my parents since Thanksgiving, and these days it's always great to see Oma.
On an unrelated note, I have to go to work tomorrow, but Cara has the day off. I'm going to drive so that I can come home for lunch to watch the US-Czech Republic soccer game and eat some more leftovers from Maggiano's.
That's all for now.

Porch sittin'

Man, has it been over a month since I last posted? I haven't completely forgotten about this blog, only when I've been near a computer. Let's recap:
My 30th birthday was a month and a half ago. I haven't really been bothered by the age, I kind of like knowing my auto insurance might go down.
My better wife threw a very nice surprise party for me, inviting several friends of ours and our spouses and their significant others. I knew she was up to something but I just figured it was dinner or something. Who knew she'd have everyone drive all the way up to Germantown just to go bowling. (Of course, she did drive all the way to PA twice a year to see a dentist for years; I guess I should have known)
I can't really remember the last birthday party thrown in my honor except for when Tu got me loaded at Murph's in york. I think that was in 2000.
Anyways, my brother and his wife were in town for the weekend from Brooklyn so naturally we spent all of Saturday watching the NFL draft. Eventually we went to downtown Annapolis for dinner to have a good yet underwhelming dinner a couple of blocks from the Academy.
They got me a bottle of single malt scotch that I haven't had enough of. It's pretty good, though I don't know how good it is compared to other single malts.
One thing that I have been meaning to blog about is that last year at passover, just before my 29th birthday, my aunt was nice enough to tell me that the body starts falling apart at 30. When i was 29 I had several migraines that resulted in me throwing up, I dislocated my shoulder again playing touch football (I didn't even touch anyone on that play) and I also got strep (who gets strep anymore??) with a fever of 103.
For those of you who are curious, this is what my

aunt

looks like:
(alright, I don't remember how to post a picture, but I'll do it once I figure it out.)
What else is new? I started biking to work a few weeks ago. It's about 8 or 9 miles and takes me no more than 45 minutes. I shower when I get to work and get to park in the garage every time (at the bike rack) so far it's only been real hot one day (mid-90's) so I guess I've been lucky. I brought my ride in for a tune up over Memorial Day weekend. Seems like since then, the shifting hasn't been as smooth as before. One day I'll get around to bringing it back, or maybe messing with it myself. It's great exercise, and I'm saving mileage on my car. The only problem is if I have to run an errand at lunch time. There arem't many places near my office at all, and I don't wanna break a big sweat and then have to be around people for the rest of the day...though I guess it'd be their problem to deal with.
movies I've watched recently: Mumford: ok, unspectacular with only a few people you've heard of in small roles
I finished the last season of Six Feet Under. I think I'm going to remember the final montage for a while.
Debs: VERY entertaining.
Hitch: not bad, whatshisname from King of Queens made the whole movie.
Melinda & melinda: pretty good, I seem to always enjoy Woody allen movies
Tin Men: I got it on advice from a co-worker. It did nothing for me
Love Stinks: very amusing if you can handle 90 minutes of that weird guy from 3rd Rock from the Sun.
Last picture Show: a classic that wasn't bad but I probably didn't give it enough attention.

We're leaving for LA on Wednesday. Cara and I are meeting two of her high school friends as part of a 30th birthday bash. We'll be in Hollywood til Saturday morning when we'll head north via rental car to San Francisco. Sunday we'll be in Napa to see a winery or seven and maybe see an olive oilery. From there we head to Ashland in southern Oregon for a day before ending in Portland where one of the girls lives. As far as I'm concerned, I'm only along for arm candy and lifting heavy things. I will try to stay out of the way exept to suggest place to eat. I think we have reservations at the Stinking Rose, where everything has garlic. I'd really like to try that chicken and Waffles chain, In n Out Burger, and maybe Fat Burger, too.
Also, my friend Stef from college lives out there somewhere so hopefully we'll get to see her at some point. I think I last saw her 5 years ago when I lived in Olney and my gerbils were still alive.
I think that's enough for now. Let that sink in and I'll get back to you.