My mind, and the places it goes

This weekend, mabfan and I and Muffin and Squeaker joined lcmlc and Abba on a Grand Adventure to answer the following question: can four adults take two two-year-olds to a bar mitzvah in Maryland without losing their minds.

Or, to put it another way, mabfan and I and lcmlc and Abba and Muffin and Squeaker went to Silver Spring, MD, for beckyfeld and osewalrus' son's bar mitzvah.

The weekend was lovely, the train trip was not as harrowing as I had feared (even with a two-hour delay outside Baltimore on our way back due to flooding on the tracks), we saw many people -- both family and friends -- that we hadn't seen in forever, many of whom had never met Muffin and Squeaker. M&S were beautifully behaved during all of the "you need to be quiet and pay attention" parts (helped partly on Sunday by the centerpieces at the brunch -- the girls had more balls to play with than they knew what to do with).

Mazal tov again to the parents of the bar mitzvah and the bar mitzvah himself. Yasher koach!

-- Is it rude for someone to blatantly read the back of your newspaper while you're trying to read the front? I felt it was at 7:20 or so this morning, but maybe I was too sensitive. Though her *leaning in* to check out the graphic is the bit that tipped me over to say something.

-- Morning fire alarms are no fun when one works on the 13th floor of a 14-floor building. The people doing construction upstairs should be more careful.

-- I think I mananged to get through a weekend on Martha's Vineyard without getting a sunburn. This is a big deal because I was actually outside a couple of times while it was sunny, I didn't have sunscreen with me, and I can burn while waiting for the bus in the summer.

-- After this weekend, I have a couple of over-ripe bananas. There is banana bread in my future.

-- Signs warning of the possible presence of deer ticks should be at eye level, not knee level. The deer ticks aren't the ones who need to read the sign. I'm just saying.

-- The weather should make up its mind and commit to warm or cool so that buildings can figure out how to set their HVAC systems. I'm tired of being too cold on cold days and too warm on warm days while inside.

Or, subways, Subway, the president, and Shabbat

-- Slept a bit late, given how late we'd gotten in after the show. Eventually, got up, got dressed, ate breakfast, and headed out for the day.

-- Headed downtown to Wall St. for mabfan's radio interview and for me to meet up with running_girl4.

-- Discovered that Wall St. was swarming not only with news crews but also many, many cops and others in full riot gear (more on this below)

-- While mabfan was at WBAI taping his upcoming Hour of the Wolf appearance, running_girl4 and I wandered all over the South Street Seaport.

-- While we were up on the third-floor outlook, checking out the New York City Waterfalls, we noticed some activity over at the heliport nearby. Within a couple of minutes, a large, official-looking helicopter took off, followed by a couple of "friends." It turned out to be Marine One, followed by security, thus explaining the heavy police presence witnessed just a bit earlier.

( Helicopters over the East River )

-- Once mabfan finished his interview, it was close to 2:30 and we hadn't yet had lunch. But we'd done a bit of research to find out where we could find kosher food in the Wall St. area, and we discovered that there was a Glatt kosher Subway just a couple of blocks away. So running_girl4 walked us over there (her office is right around the corner from there) and left us to our lunch. Of course, since it was Friday afternoon and after 2:30 when we got there, we were concerned that they would close before we could get our lunch. Luck was with us, however -- they closed at 3 PM, so we could get our lunch and take it to a park down the block to eat.

-- After we ate, we ran a brief jewelry-related errand to replace the broken chain of a necklace that I've worn since mabfan got it for me for my 21st birthday, and while we were there he got me a pair of matching earrings.

-- From there, we started our way back to Queens, arriving not long after our hosts got home from work. We helped out with the Shabbat preparations, and then we had a lovely Shabbat dinner with them and talked long into the night, until we all decided that if we kept talking we'd fall asleep where we were sitting, so we all retired for the night.


I'll try to post about Shabbat and Sunday before the holidays start Monday night, but no promises...

mabfan and I are back from our long weekend in New York.

Here are some *very* brief, context-free highlights, with more to follow:

-- Wonderful friends
-- Wonderful show
-- Cheek-smooches from not one but two Tony Award nominees
-- Meeting other celebrities becoming an also-ran event
-- Radon or elephant?
-- Touring companies
-- Nappity-nap, don't take yak!
-- New York is Book Country
-- Scientologist pirates?
-- More fleishigs than I've eaten in a month

I'm not going to be able to catch up with my friends list, so please let me know if there's anything I need to know.

For those of you following the arrival of the Nomi & Michael Show in New York City, here's the current schedule. Feel free to skip to the relevant part for yourself.

Thursday:
Thursday we seem to be pretty much booked up. popfiend, you're on our list to try to stop by and see in the late afternoon. dianora2, if you're around, we'd love to see you too.

Friday:
Michael will be taping his radio show interview in the early afternoon, while Nomi and running_girl4 wander the seaport. mabfan will meet up with them after his interview. Anyone else want to join us?

Saturday:
Shabbat. Booked.

Sunday:
We plan to drop our stuff at Penn Station and then wander around New York is Book Country in Central Park from about 10 am to 12:30 pm. Anyone is welcome to join us there.

Following that, we plan to have lunch at Mr Broadway, a kosher restaurant at Broadway and 38th Street, at 1 pm. So far, it seems as if jjbaker, mamadeb, ennienyc and nojojojo are interested in meeting us. Anyone else who wants to join us, reply here or e-mail so we know the number of people.

If you need our cell phone info, drop me e-mail.

Friday
-- Got up early, got to train station around 7:30 for 8:20 train, found wireless access in South Station.( More Friday )

( Saturday )

( Sunday )

So, that's the weekend in a nutshell. Much fun was had, many good friends seen, even more good friends missed.

For mabfan's take on the weekend, click here.

Mm, mm.

mabfan and I are sitting in South Station waiting for our train to NYC to be called.

We're off for the weekend; I will most likely fall behind in my reading, so please let me know if there's anything I should see.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Friday:

-- Headed down to DC by Amtrak. Trip was excellent. No screwups by Amtrak, and bonus early arrival (we were running early the whole trip, and we waited about 10 minutes at New Haven so we wouldn't be leaving way before the posted departure time). I avoided being productive the whole way down (::facepalm::) with the exception of a bit of work I did on the ms currently in my queue in the lounge before I got on the train. Read a lot, listened to music.

-- Arrived Union Station and did not get lost finding the Metro. Go me. :-) Got there just in time to catch train in correct direction. Got to Silver Spring Metro no problem. Found local buses. Realized I didn't know which route I wanted. Guessed mightily. Guessed wrong, but only ended up 1.5 blocks from where I intended to be.

-- Got to B&H&A's house. Let myself in, shmoozed with A until H got home. Once H was home, went out to back yard to play with A and the garden hose. Made for very wet A, only vaguely wet gnomi. Good time was had by all. Upon arrival home of B, A and gnomi returned to the house. Was given gift of penguin by B. Surfed Internet briefly until time to prepare for Shabbat.

-- Lovely dinner was had at S&S'; S still extremely talented at poking at music part of gnomi brain. Confirmed he does it on purpose. Wonderful food, excellent conversation. Was very sleepy by end.

-- Back to B&H&A house, to sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Saturday:

-- H&A went to shul. B and gnomi totally failed at said shul-going.

-- Got up early, thought better thereof, went back to sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Eventually got up again, in plenty of time to dress and get ready for lunch at S&S'. At lunch, saw K&S&J. Much fun conversation, much excellent food.

-- After lunch, Shabbat nap. Nap good. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

-- Not long after rising from nap, visited by A&I&A. Was good to see them. I still very tall. A still very lovely. A still very cute.

-- After Shabbat, went to remind K how to knit. Had much fun. Flailed with pokey sticks for two hours, had wonderful conversation. At midnight, headed home (walked home by S), then checked Internet (confirmed it was still there), then sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Sunday:

-- Up around 8. Ablute, dress, pack, check Internet (yup, still there). Breakfast with B&A. Said goodbye to H, who was off on his own adventures. Flailed around to make sure didn't forget anything (contact lenses, check; train ticket, check; housekeys for Boston, check). Got into car with B&A, trip to Caribou for not!coffee. B&A dropped gnomi at Silver Spring Metro. Dashed through rain to station. Waited for Metro, arrive Union Station 45 minutes before train scheduled to leave (yay!). Waited for train to get loaded, made more progress on ms in lounge, got on train.

-- On train, confirmed that sitting in 2-person seat is OK since meeting mabfan in NYC. End up at 4-person table with just gnomi, since train car mostly empty. Get some more ms done, then read until NYC. At Penn, saw G through train window, gesticulated wildly. mabfan joined me on train. Heard about his weekend, told him highlights of mine. Watched shows on laptop with mabfan. Appreciated 15-minute train delay so could finish what we were watching just as we got into South Station.

-- Off train, to cab. Cab home. Yay, home. Went upstairs, unpacked, flailed about preparing for work on Monday. Sat and watched 'Gates to relax from travel flail. Couldn't keep eyes open after 'Gates, so went to bed. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

...and am firmly ensconced at chez osewalrus and beckyfeld.

::waves to everyone::

We're back from our trip to the Nebulas.

Haven't checked friends list since Friday about 2 PM. Unlikely to catch up. Please let me know here if there's anything I should know.

Photos to be posted in the near-ish future.

Fun was had.

Sleep is needed.