T.G.I.V.D.F.

Thank God It's...

VAN DAM FRIDAY!

Now that's crazy dancin'! :~)

Sorry I took the image down it was too much of a bandwidth hog. If you still want to see it, Click Here

Oh, My Shoe Fell Off!

Top Secret Video Discovered!
Watch if you dare, this newly discovered candid video taken during the recent New Year's Eve festivities at Lago's Lounge.

>> Watch the Video (Windows Media Video - 522 KB)

I will say in my defense that I was attempting to perform the goofiest dance imaginable, and by golly I think I may have pulled it off!

Can You See Our Visitor?

We had a visitor recently to our backyard, can you spot him?

I circled him in the photo below, now do you see him?


Still don't see him, perhaps the photos below will help.




Looks like a hawk to me, especially after I saw him fly away and the wing span. Those are the clearest photos I was able to get. I took them right around sunset just before we left for dinner Saturday night, that's why they're a little blurry.

Eagles Out, Frank Lives and Jack is Back

I haven't posted anything about the Eagles game this past weekend because Lago and I were at the symphony Saturday night. I know, I know... but we got the tickets months ago, and it was a Tribute to Sinatra - need I say more? Steve Lippia sang with Grammy winner Victor Vanacore conducting. Vanacore worked with Ray Charles on "Genius Loves Company." Lippia is known for singing the tunes made popular by Sinatra. He doesn't try to imitate Francis Albert, though he does sound like Sinatra, more so on the slower tunes. What he does borrow are Sinatra's arrangements by Billy May, Nelson Riddle and others. It was a great show, only soured briefly by an obnoxious jerk who sat behind us.

When the show started the orchestra played a few tunes sans Lippia - many of Frank's concerts began in this manner. It took all of five minutes before jerky boy started to pipe up "What is this s***! I didn't pay for this!" Another minute goes by and jerky pipes up again. This time Lago swings around and lets him have it verbally, deservedly so. I don't recall her exact words, I'll leave her to add her comments on the evening when she has time. But, in essence she told him to be quiet or leave. This is when jerky boy replies "Kiss my a**!" At this point, I turned around and stared him straight in the eye. I didn't say anything, I just let him know that it was time to shut up. I turned back around and we heard nothing more from jerky boy.

We went to Blue after the show for drinks. Blue has live music, but they had the Eagles' game on in the bar without the sound. I sat with my back to the TV. We planned to DVR the game and watch it the next day, provided I could keep from hearing/seeing the outcome.

Almost forgot to mention we had dinner before the show at Luce, a Tuscan-style Italian restaurant that we had never been to before. It was great and very authentic. The food was excellent and so was the wine. They only had Italian wines on the menu so we asked for a recommendation. We had the Principesco Brunello di Montalcino. It wasn't on the menu, but we were glad we asked. It's a Sangiovese, and tasted like a rich Pinot Noir. It went well with my ribeye and Lago's seafood risotto. With the warm weather we've been having my steak tasted like it was grilled on a summer's evening at Lago's Lounge.

Yesterday, I planned to get online to do a few things and bypass any news. I didn't even get the paper from the mailbox until after watching the game. It worked out well and I managed to watch the outcome of the game as it unfolded. Best of all, I was able to fast forward through the commercials. Yes, the Eagles are out but after a valiant effort. And to think they made it this far after losing McNabb earlier in the season. Especially after the so-called "experts" didn't give the Eagles a chance when the season started. That's right they all picked the Panthers to top the NFC this year. These guys must be in the same union as the weather forecasters, because they never get it right either!

Here's to next year boys. Let's hope we get a healthy McNabb back as early as possible, hopefully make a deal to keep Garcia around - although that may be hard after his performance this season - and let's make some changes to shore up the defense.

My attention turned quickly from the Eagles yesterday as Lago made a seafood paella for dinner - excellent. She received a paella cooking set for Christmas from her mother. Then after dinner it was time for the long awaited return of "24" - Jack is back! Yep, Jack was back from the Chinese prison and it seems the two years of torture have changed Jack. I'm looking forward to tonight as two more hours of "24" are on the schedule. Lago has choir practice tonight, so I'll be DVR-ing the show and we'll watch when she gets home.

Quick Trip

I made a quick trip to New York City this past week. I flew up there Tuesday night and then returned Wednesday night after meeting with my new boss at the Time Warner Center (TWC). The TWC is on Columbus Circle at the southwest corner of Central Park. Still have yet to run into Soledad O'Brien, but there's an excellent cafeteria there that overlooks Central Park. We didn't eat there this trip. We had lunch at Gabriel's, an Italian restaurant where media types and CBS News peops have been known to hang out. We didn't see any though.

I went up there with Sammay (aka Jimmy Joe Pete) who I work with. We stayed at the Hudson Hotel, right across the street from the TWC. Very small rooms there like a closet. This may be too much info, but the bathroom is so small that when you sit on the commode you can rest your forehead on the wall in front of you - no joke. We both vowed to never stay there again. Sammay said the heat didn't work in his room so not a good lodging experience at all. The downstairs lobby bar/nightclub is very good for people watching. They played too much Euro-techno stuff for my taste, but not bad.

We had dinner at Shelly's Wed. night, great steak place. Didn't have a lot of time to do/see other stuff. We passed by the Metropolitan Opera House in the taxi on the way to the hotel Wed. night, so I snapped the photo below.

The other photos (top & bottom) I snapped as the sun set on the way back to LaGuardia for our flight home. Those flights are always delayed. We got on the plane bound for home, miraculously on time, but ended up sitting on the runway waiting to takeoff. Finally arrived home and was greeted by Lago at the front door with a glass of wine - ah good to be home.

Get Your GREEN On!

Eagles play the Giants this afternoon in a Wildcard Playoff game. Granted they're not the same Eagles when McNabb is in there, but they've still managed to play well the last half of the season. If they're defense can play strong and limit Tiki, I think they definitely have a chance against the Giants weak passing game.

I tuned in for the 2nd half of last night's Dallas vs. Seattle game. Wow, what a wild finish! The Dallas fumble into the endzone for a Seattle safety... then I sat there in amazement when Romo bobbled the snap for what could have been the a winning field goal attempt. Crazy stuff!

GO EAGLES!!!

2007, yo!

Happy New Year! We had a more laid back New Year's Eve gig this year at the all new Lago's Lounge, but still kicked in the new year with some karaoke and all around goofiness.

Rob Monkey said he was "bringing sexy back" and he wasn't joking. He brought along some top-secret T-shirts that weren't revealed until we joined in to sing U2's "Discotheque" - thanks Rob for not making me sing along to Justin Timberlake. We all had a good time, but the evening only lasted to about 1:30 a.m. - much shorter than last year's big throwdown that lasted until the wee hours past 4 a.m. We were all pretty tired, besides, we're all a year older right? :~)