I have been terrible about posting to this blog. I'm going to get fired if I'm not careful! I thought I'd pretend it's "Show and Tell" time in school. So, here are two gifts I got for my recent birthday. Am I cool, or what?
Tonight a group of us went to the Cheesecake Factory in Colonie Center to celebrate my ** Birthday which was earlier this week. Needless to say, I think we all left the place stuffed! Mary Ellen, our waitress was a great sport! Just before we left she told us that she had been off for three days and was not especially looking forward to getting back to work, but she said we made her night a lot of fun! It seemed like we were in the birthday room because even before our meal was served there were three different Happy Birthdays sung around us. 
When we got to the end of our meal, we were all too full to order cheesecake, but then thought of our adventure to NYC in April, when we had dinner at Carmine's in midtown and how everyone was too full for dessert there too. You'd never know it though by the way we all attacked the Titanic before the platter even hit the tablecloth! But tonight we resisted! At David's request, Mary Ellen assembled a group of "hot waiters" to sing Happy Birthday to me as she placed a mini hot fudge sundae in front of me. (NO COMMENT RUSSELL!!!) But alas, I left without even one phone number! Maybe next year........
Taffy (a.k.a. Taffeta Rene) had just gotten back from the groomer. Notice her pink bows on her ears. She is so cute! Every time I see her I think of Luke down there in Florida with the family. Maybe we'll have to get the two of them together? 
On Tuesday night my friend Russ (who I work with) was invited to some friends' place for a 'game night'. He asked me to go along, and since my dance card is always full, I immediately said yes. Turns out his friends run the Saratoga Rose Inn & Restaurant in Hadley, NY. The plans were that we were to bring our own drinks and we'd all chip in for pizza. So, on our lunch hour we ran to our friendly local Price Chopper and picked up some soda. When we got back to the office, we put it in the fridge so that it would be cold by the time we left work.
Here's the library where we played. It struck me that the Inn would be a good place to play 'Clue'. There were lots of candlesticks around that could be used as weapons. And one of the guys did remind me of Professor Plum.
It was a gorgeous day for the Tulip Festival this year . . . I've never seen Washington Park so crowded! At one point, I heard Mayor Jennings say from the main stage that this was a record breaking crowd. I was impressed by the number of food vendors and the choices available. I was also impressed by the number of arts and crafts vendors and the quality of the merchandise offered.
I walked from my apartment and met Sean and Jeffrey and Gavin in the ampitheater at the Lake House. We were soon joined by a bunch of other friends and new friends. It was relaxing, just sitting there, but the sun was getting hotter and I knew the top of my head would not be happy later! So off we went to check out the food vendors and work the crowd.
Here's Sean. I think he's confused me with Helmut, the photographer from GQ.
Sean and Jeffrey, shades in the shade. And yours truly . . . adding some more redness to my head.
The main headliner on the main stage was Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. We made sure we hung around for "I Love Rock n Roll". Buddahead and They Might be Giants were the other bands that I was familiar with.
The crowd kept growing . . .
It was such a beautiful day that I thought maybe I ought to get out in it! With blanket, water bottle, camera, iPod and Harry Potter 5, I ventured out to Washington Park in Albany. I figured that with a warm week coming up and rain predicted by Friday, maybe the tulips wouldn't look so good for the annual Albany Tulip Festival on Mother's Day weekend.
So I spent about 3 hours soaking up the sun and reading. It took me about three or four tries to get into that 5th book, The Order of the Phoenix, but I did it. I am a little over the half way mark. I want to finish it before the movie comes out this summer, so I bring it with me to the laundramat every time I go. With the nice weather finally here, I'm hoping to read and get some sun at the same time. This is my favorite time of year, not humid yet, and not a lot of bugs.
Look at that rebel!
And, I actually cooked tonight! And I've got leftovers for lunches! My old standby, chicken and peppers in the oven...this time with a raspberry pineapple sauce. YUMMY!
Sometimes when I'm out with some friends at a karaoke night, some of my friends ask me, "Why don't you sing a song?" I've just never found one that though I could do justice to. Well, I used to joke that I'd like to do "Baby Got Back" but I think if I did that Sir Mix A Lot may hunt me down and kill me. Recently a friend sent me this rendition and I think it may be the perfect vehicle! Some of my friends have offered to be backup singers and dancers. After some rehearsals, I think I just may be ready!!!
We wanted the day be as relaxing as it could be, so we built in a lot of cushion around our activities. We took the 8:10 am train and arrived at Penn Station around 10:30 am. The weather was beautiful...hard to believe we had a Nor'easter just a couple of posts ago. 
Our play started at 3:00 pm at the 2econd Stage Theatre (2ST)and it was the last performance in the run. The play covered issues and periods and relationships over a period of about 80 years. It begins as men gather for a wedding ceremony, and ends at that same ceremony. To quote the Playbill, "in between is the play proper--flashbacks of how the nine males in the room got there. Each has a story related to the gay life, be it AIDS, or Stonewall." 
It was the type of play where you are laughing out loud one minute and your eyes are filling with tears the next. Of course, for us, one of our favorite scenes was the one set at the group support meeting. We swear someone was evesdropping on our meetings!
After the show we headed down to the Penn Station area where we were being joined by my son Joe and my daughter-in-law Joy for bite to eat before we boarded the 7:45 pm train for home. We ate at the Stage Door diner (I guess that's what you'd call it). When you are seated they bring you a dish of pickles and dishes of cole slaw. Forget the bread sticks! It was fun conversation, but the day was drawing too quickly to a close. It was fun for Joe and Joy to meet some of my friends, and my friends loved meeting them!
And we're being told to brace ourselves for a Nor'easter. Oh, joy! Oh, rapture! And yesterday was a nice sunny, pleasant day!
I finally took a good portion of yesterday to clean my apartment. Not that it was dirty, I mean how dirty can it get in a couple months? Only kidding. But I dusted and vacuumed. I guess many experts say to dust first (brush the crap to the floor) and then vacuum. My grandmother's words echoed in my brain, however. She was a firm believer in "Dust last because vacuuming raises dust." This was from a woman who every week had every piece of furniture moved out of place to dust and vacuum behind it. I remember seeing her end table lamps moved to the dining room table while she tackled the living room. I didn't do that good a job, but I think I'm good now until October.
Just as I was finishing up and about to take a shower, my friend Y-OH-Y called me to see if I had plans for the evening. I had mentioned to him a short while ago that Lisa Lampanelli would be coming to the Palace and tonight was the night! So we decided to take a trip to the box office to see about tickets and seating. Online told us that 2 seats together would be way at the top of the balcony, or near the back of the orchestra seating. We ended up getting 2 single seats, one behind the other, orchestra right, rows GG and A. Nice seats! Close, but far enough back so as not to be in her target range!
She came out with both barrels smokin'! Pow! Pow! Pow! She spared no one within her sights and some not within her sights....(those in the balcony). I won't attempt to review the show; I'll leave that to Y-OH-Y's expertise. She's not known as the Queen of Mean for nothing! I don't think I laughed much and so loud at a live show! It was nice to relax after my fourth week back to full time work. I guess I'll save that for another post.
Well, I'm going to go dig out my boots again.
My, time flies when one is having so much fun! I've been at my new full time job for two weeks now. Things are going really well. I'm used to getting up early every weekday morning now. (I lie like a dog.) I feel like I'm getting into the swing of things there.
I decided to jump start my return to the gym by switching gyms. Seems that Gold's is not honoring their "guaranteed" renewal rate, that I have in my contract, so I joined Best Fitness, which is closer to my apartment. So far, I've gone seven out of the last nine days. People on the street are pausing and whispering, "There's Hercules!" I never knew the treadmill could get you all buff like that!
So, the movie . . . 300. Anyone see it? Very stylized, but little substance, I thought. I mean, how many times was Leonidas going to bellow out, "Sparrrrrrtans!" But some of the body hacking became funny after a while. And I mean, c'mon! All these warriors just watching that guy ride up on the horse with his sword, and no one threw their spear? Or at least yell, "Duck Astinos!!!" Hellllloooooo!!! Didn't see that decapitation coming, eh?
And last night our credit union had their annual dinner meeting at the Hall of Springs in Saratoga. Very nice. The credit union is celebrating it's 70th anniversary so each table had a model of an auto or truck from 1937, which one lucky person at each table got to take home. I didn't get the model, but I did get the floral centerpiece. Lucky me!
So, spring has sprung, work goes well, I've run a little over 25 miles and I managed to mail out my Easter goody packages last week. Now all I have to do is wait for the Easter Bunny. 
