DECEMBER 2005

:::Catchup blog for December, 2005 (see 3/14/07 post):::

December 14
FROM THE PSYCHIATRIST’S OFFICE LEDGE
So…I tried a physiatrist for the first time. I’d been feeling pretty down in the dumps (more than normal), and I have insurance now, so I though I’d give it a try.

The office was on the 24th floor and had an amazing view of the city! I wondered if he charged as much as he did in order to cover his office rent. Overall, the visit was crappy. He spoke more about himself and his music abilities and desperately searched for specific terms in which to label me with for his records.

On the way out I asked the receptionist if there was a good place to take a photo or two from that floor. She happily walked me out of the office into the hallway and opened the door to the fire escape. It was a simple terrace-like fire escape. There were no bars to keep me from jumping or doing anything crazy- I couldn’t believe she’d let a new patient hang out on the fire escape like that! She had no idea why I was there…scary.

Anywho, here are a few photos…




December 25
CHRISTMAS IN FLORIDA
The trip to Florida for Christmas was so great! I flew into West Palm while Dave went to Orlando.

I’m starting to forget my roots! While waiting for my parents to pick me up, an SUV towing a huge boat pulled through the arrival pickup area! It seemed so foreign.

My parents had bought a new iMac for themselves online, with a little Christmas help from Eric, Dave and I. We had it shipped here where we loaded it up before I took it with me by plane. It was fun to set it up for them and play with all the new goodies that come with 10.4! VERY cool. MUST get one for myself some day…

I had a great time lounging around seeing family again. The visit was much too short! Also on Christmas, Dave drove down from Orlando and stayed for a day. It was a great vacation.

Cake and Gogol Bordello in Jan!

Ooooohhhh, MAN!!!

We bought tickets for a group of people to see CAKE (:::singing::: "sheep go to heaven, goats...go to hell") GOGOL BORDELLO(:::singing::: "start wearing purple, wearing purple...") at the HAMMERSTEIN BALLROOM!

Last year Cake played there we didn't get tickets in time, but we got a good peek at the theater...it's amazing!

Grab your tickets now for January 20th at 6!!!

King Kong, the movie.

Ways to tell if a movie is good:
• you are welled-up with emotion more than once, barely half-way through the movie
• you have to stop and take a break from the movie several times just to breathe
• the only thing keeping you from bawling is being aware of how many people are sitting around you
• a fully-packed theater (so packed people were even sitting on the stairs) leaves in silence
• you still well up with tears an hour later
• you're still emotionally moved when talking about it the next day

...So...WOW! Sharon, Dave, Eric and Bobby approved!

It was a roller-coaster of a movie. Very violent, breathtaking, romantic and moving.

Sweet smell of NY?

So at my desk this morning I smelled pancakes and maple syrup. Except no one was eating anything. It was quite strong... then Eric sent me this link...


We're off to the early King Kong premier!!!

Good weekend

This weekend was pretty great. We put up our Christmas tree, Scott, Iris and Jef came over to eat and drink, I did a little X-mas shopping on Sunday, and then Jef came over and we burned our first fire up on the porch in our new barbeque grill. (That was really, really nice.)

{photos TK}

I bought tickets on Friday so I could fly home to Palm Beach Gardens (where I grew up) to see my parents for Christmas! Dave will be flying to Orlando but will be driving up to spend Christmas later in the day until fly back Monday. Eric's dad will be visiting New York for the first time in 40 (That's FORTY) years!!!! How cool!

Speaking of "cool", the weather is looking a bit cold this week! Low of 17? What! And no snow?! Hmph.

Snow, rain, sun and premier Kong tickets

We woke up this morning and walked to the PATH through a lot of snowfall, arrived in NY 20 minutes later to rain, watched it snow and then rain again from my window at work, and then went out for lunch later during the beautiful, sunny afternoon!

8am



9:30am


2pm


While out for lunch, we happened to pass the Loews movie theater on 34th, and a girl was passing out free movie tickets (courtesy of Universal) to see King Kong on MONDAY, two days before the big day!That means we'll be purchasing tickets for Wednesday's Magic/Knicks game!

Here's the blog from last year's game

A "Weather Pixie" to show the current weather...


...No? ...just trying it on...

KING KONG IS HERE!

...Well, so far for the celebrities and other more important people, anyway...

NY had the big premier for King Kong and a press conference last night with the cast and Peter Jackson!

After the show at Kate's (which consisted of the weekly crowd plus SCOTT and IRIS ...hi, guys!!!), Dave, Eric, Brad, Bobby and I wandered the streets through the falling snow (each of us carrying a heavy buzz), in search of Kong...

Four very happy guys in front of Grand Central Station


Parking on Park Ave


This is near Central Station- a life-sized, bronze statue of a man in a business suit hailing a taxi. Of course, Eric always NOSE what to do with inanimate objects...


Times Square


...And here he is, the giant Kong, made life-size! He's actually sitting, and was still about 2 stories high. (He'd be about 3 stories if he were standing). He was very life-like, long body hair blowing in the snowy wind...EXTREMELY AWESOME.




About 5 minutes after we took these photos, they shut the lights off around the scene and started removing the "set". We'd like to thank ERIC for finding out about this and all the guys for trudging through the city late at night with us to catch it!

We found out that not only is next Wednesday the opening day for the movie, it's the same night the Orlando Magic are playing in NY! (GO, MAGIC!)

The first snow of 2005!

Unless it had already fallen undetected in the wee hours of some morning, TODAY is the first snow of 2005! (A few weeks earlier than last year!)

This is what we woke up to this morning:



"Sol in the Snow" (left behind from last night's soirée with the usual suspects)


We woke up about 10am. There was already a faint mist of rain falling about, but that made the snow more perfect for packing snowballs!


We made our first snowman together! [insert "Awww" here]



And, not *only* was it the first snow of this year, or our first snowman....it was our CATS' first snow! They had watched it fall by the windows last year, but have never walked through it. We were wondering which one would actually go out into it...


...and to our surprise, it was "Baby", the scardy-cat of the bunch! (Granted, the snow wasn't very high, especially after we stomped it down making our snowman, but it still was wet and cold. We're very proud of her!)



She finally walked timidly to a chair where there was less snow and tried to hunker down, but it didn't last long before she went back inside.


It's still dripping rain here and there and the snow is melting a way a bit, but our snowman still stands! We'll see what it's like to get around tomorrow. Icy, I'm sure!

Chance of snow...

The time is finally here!


Now let's see if I still like it this year! (So far, I can't wait!)