0217-0219 - Present for Presidents and Riding the Rails

Friday, I rushed home to my dinner of garlic chicken and fried rice. I also had to clean up and cut my hair since I would be not be home on Saturday night to do it later. I was completely ready to go and outfitted to go out and made my way down the street to catch the train. The D train arrived and proceeded to bring me up to West 4th and then went express to 34th street for some reason so I ended up having to take the train back downtown. It added an extra 15 minutes to my trip but nothing too detrimental. I made my way up the street, bought my bottle of water that I pocketed and went into the club with and made my way past the doorman and the cashier. I was waved inside and headed down to coatcheck to check the wrap in the midst of the holiday weekend crowd. I saw one couple who seemed to have staked out one of the couches at the bottom of the stairs for the whole of the night. After picking up my glass of Smirnoff Ice I headed back upstairs in Splash to hear what the DJ was doing. The DJ celebrating his Birthday was none other than DJ Billy Carroll who was his usual high energy self keeping the boys in motion. The Jimmy did not arrive until around 1am and I spotted him on the dancefloor near the front as I stepped down off of the stage around 1:15. We picked up Vodka drinks at the front bar and watched the crowd move as the night progressed. I heard Mary J Blige, "Without You". Chris Brown "Run It" and the DJ Paulo Mix of "My Humps" . Between the Smirnoff Ices and the Mandarin Vodka with Cranberry (with some Red Bull's in between) I was plenty nice by the end of the eve and said goodnight to The Jimmy as he left around 3:45am. I stayed until 4:15 myself and did my final dance to "Music Use You Up vs 8 Letters" on the box in front of the screens and then crossed the floor to the box in front of the stage before leaving for the night. I picked up a taxi right out front and made my way back to the BK with no trouble.

Saturday morning I decided I was not going to be able to go to the gym. I had a very broken sleep the night before as I kept waking up and falling back to sleep. I finally got out of bed just before noon, had some breakfast cereal, and made sure all of my outfit for the evening was set out. I then cleaned up made sure all of the accoutrements and clothes were in place and made ready to do some shopping. I was outfitted in the black cargoes and the Hilfiger hockey jersey and my blue Nikes. The 26 degrees outside meant my feet were cold but the heavy duty grey winter coat made sure the rest of me was nice and toasty. I arrived downtown at Rector street and walked over to Century 21 to pick out a gift for the upcoming housewarming. I could not find my original gift but the vases I did pick out were cool enough along with a nice gift certificate. I then headed to the clothes department and picked out some shirts for myself and then headed out to the train station with the map and address in the middle of Brooklyn where I was headed. I neglected to check whether I should stay on the express or local track but my stop ended up being on the Express line. I came out of the station and walked the 4 blocks over and half a block in and arrived at the correct address. I of course was the first party guest arriving at 6:50 but I was able to help with the setup, making sure the drinks were moved downstairs, the soda moved inside and helped stabilize the cushion on the futon. Everyone started trickling in around 7:30 and pouring in around 9pm. Shamika and Lynda headed out briefly (1½ of briefly) to pick up some last-minute foodstuffs and returned to a packed house. The area around the television upstairs was full of gifts and the downstairs was full of people. The crowd was hard to please in terms of music but we finally ate our dinner around 9pm and hung out for a bit downstairs before Nicola and I headed back upstairs with the rest of the packed house on the entry level to watch the finale of the slam dunk contest. I stayed until 10:50 and then headed out Nicola and another guest who was nice enough to drop Nicola off at her aunts house and then drop me off at the Atlantic/Pacific Train station before she headed on towards the city on her way back to the Bronx. I made my way down into the station along with the crowds returning from the Brooklyn Academy of Music and waited on the 2/3 Platform to head into NYC. At Park Place (already familiar with on my trip to Bklyn) I switched from the 2 train to the A Train. The A Train I took up to 14th Street and then proceeded to walk up the street and over to the club.

I directed one person waiting on the line to have his ID out and then once inside directed him to the cashiers instead of waiting on line with the people signing up with the guy at the computer. I made my way past the cashiers and then stood next to the line for the coat check as I changed from my hockey Jersey to one of the tee shirts I had picked up at Century 21. A nice green one went pretty well with my black pants and black hat and i was ready to head on into the
Roxy. I made my way to the front bar and said hello to Barker and Matt and also to Shawn and his bud and even took a digi picture after meeting their friend Ben. The DJ for the eve was Joe Hickerson who was supposed to be a fave of Manny Lehman so we were looking forward to a good mix of vocals and high energy beats. The DJ did not disappoint as the night rolled in smoothly with high points from the DJ Paulo Mix of "I Can't Get Enough" and "Let the Music Use You Up" as well as "Fascinated" by Suzanne Palmer. Overall I will rate the debut of this new DJ very well and except with the pacing issues I am sure with such a stellar debut he can only grow and improve. I stayed until 4:30am and headed out to the coat check. I talked with the coat check girl for a bit and found out she was into R&B music so I would be able to bring her some CDs the next time I came. I then made sure I had my Century 21 Bag all my stuff in my coat and headed out into the night. The trip back to Brooklyn was nice and uneventful and I was able to get to bed after taking everything off and spiraling into the sleep.

Sunday I made sure to get up early enough to flip on the DS and pick up turnips from that lady in Animal Crossing- Wild World. The rest of the day I spent mostly inside except for a nice trip mid-afternoon to pick up 2 cheeseburgers at Mickey D's. That short trip over I stayed in the house until late around 10pm when I picked up some chinese chicken (fried) and ate dinner while watching CNN. I stayed up most of Sunday night watching movies on Showtime (When Will I Find Love) and then music videos on VH1 and then MTV before finally going to bed before the sun came up and kept me from sleeping. I still slept with the covers over my head though and pretty much stayed in bed until the afternoon when I watched more television until late afternoon when I picked up some pizza for lunch. Russ returned from Boston around 8pm and chinese food dinner was ordered The weekend had went by quickly for a 3 day weekend but it was still nice even though it was all over. Too bad we don't have 3 days every weekend. Oh well maybe after we are more wealthy someday.

Peace out to the Presidents


Quotes from Deadwood:

-
You see that one over there?
You can tell she's fuc%ed for food.

-
Those who doubt me..
su%k co&k by choice!


And the movie I will see:
Ultraviolet

Quote:
I have seven hundred soldiers, what can You Do?

- answer
I can kill them.

Me likey...

0210-0212 - Dashing through the Snow and back Home Again

I arrived home on Friday and decided that instead of picking up chinese takeout on the way home I would just make do with leftovers.
The macaroni and tuna salad was very good and I was able to sit in the living room and relax watching TV and playing with the DS while eating dinner. Russ arrived around 10:30pm and hung out for a bit. I changed my shirt to something more club-like (blue Nautica Tee) and left on the Eddie Bauer cargo pants and assembled all of the pockets to be ready to go hang out. We left the house around 11:15 in car service and rode into the city with no problems at all. The driver dodged aggressive taxis and tourists on the way up 6th ave and we were dropped off on 22nd street with no drama. We headed down the block to KRASH at Club Deep and waited on the long line briefly before heading over to the other line and saying hi to security before heading in. I checked the coats downstairs and had a bottle of water while we waited for midnight to roll around. The Jimmy arrived shortly after and we all hung out near the ba! r before we all headed downstairs to check out the people rapidly filling up the club. I hung out there for a bit before the cigarette smokers became to much and headed back upstairs. DJ Elliot DeHoyos was playing a cool introductory set and I even went up and danced next to the platform as he played the Victor Calderone mix of "Eight Letters vs Let the Music Use You Up". I was happy with the mix, but the rest of the music seemed kind of generic and just playing to the usual mix of Krash favorites (Anyone who has every danced at crash between 1am and 2am has probably heard the same kind of songs) I said hello to Duane who was hanging out with a few of his friends. At one point the DJ did throw out a mix of Beyonce and "Check On It" but it was the regular hip hop radio version and was not even the J Vasquez mix. I gave a gift CD to Erik Rhodes who was there celebrating his birthday in the VIP and we all hung out n! ear our bartender until 3am. After I retrieved my coat from the coat check I gave the bartender a gift CD (Ice Pop) and we bid the crowd goodnight. We walked down the street to Mickey D's but the line was too long so we took a taxi back to BK. Walked to the Murano out back and picked up some breakfast at the 24 Hour Mickey on Ft Hamilton. After that late night snack it was time for some sleep.

Saturday I awoke to the specter of a late day storm and plans to go out later regardless. The afternoon passed without too much in the way of stuff to do and I just made sure that all of the supplies were in place before the scheduled blizzard. My family showed up late with Ana, Gigi as well as Ian and Willy all showed up to hang for a bit and wait for dinner delivery. The chicken parmesan arrived from Friends and we dug into to dinner while watching the Simpsons and various HD programming. After the family left I made to get ready to head out. After haircut, cleanup, and picking out the orange Nautica shirt and the tan button-fly cargos and I was all set after all of the preparations and only forgot my glasses out of all of the accouterments taken.

Russ drove me into the city and dropped me off right on 18th street. I walked over to the line and after giving the gift CD to Derek I made my way inside and past cashiers and coat check. The coat check guy was friendly and wished me a good night and I got inside and caught up with my waiting bar staff at the back bar. After saying hello to Barker and Matt I started off the night and reported back to Russ on the crowd inside. The Roxy filled to a nice crowd by 1am. I said hello to Larry, our friend from Splash who was the first one to make us realize the importance of a regular personal bartender. Took some pics and waded into the crowd to dance some at the back before making appearances on the back speaker across from the stage and then the speaker next to the stage. There was some tourists who appeared to have overindulged from very early in the night. From the big girl sitting on the coaches in the front bar, to the poor boy sprawled across the box next to the stage. We thoroughly tried to ignore the boy who danced in just a sock, hat and construction boots on the speaker in front of the DJ booth for a good 1½ hours before finally the light guy ignored him and the crowd ignored him and he moved on. My dancing friend Dave made a few appearances at the front and remained upbeat throughout the night but due to the crowd that was unable to make it through the weather they closed the back bar early and I said goodnight to Barker and had to make visits to Cathy at the front bar. She was busy but still nice and I stayed until 5am since I called Russ at 4:30 to come back to the place and get me since I knew it would be highly difficult to get back to Bklyn in the snowstorm. Russ arrived and was waiting on 10th ave and I was able to ride back to BK in comfort and safety.

I woke up on Sunday to try and dealt with the ever elusive Turnip lady in Animal Crossing Wild World on the DS. Of course after the tragedy that was losing 3 turnip plants due to non-watering, there was no Turnip lady this Sunday. I was SOL. Anyway the rest of the day I spent watching the growing piles of snow outside before it stopped by early afternoon. Russ had returned from his legal case in the early afternoon and suggested a dinner run to KFC. We cleaned off the car again (just a nice dusting and some ice since the car had already been out 3 times since the beginning of the storm) and drove down 4th Ave to get to KFC. We first attempted to go through the drive-thru but saw that the parking lot had not been plowed. We parked in front of the place and I walked in and picked up the food. On my way back to the car I noted a Ford Explorer that had actually driven around the restaurant and made it past the drive-thru and then been abandoned in the parking lot. After I climbed the piles of snow back to the car we laughed at the stuck vehicle and took our chicken back home. We watched DVDs and watched DVR programming (Boondocks was just outrageously funny) and finally around 10pm we were heading out once again to find dessert. The 24 hr McDonalds was discovered to be manned by a robotic menu board even while the store itself was dark. The snowplowed parking lot was misleading as the place was empty and we dodged buses and snowplows and headed back towards 9th street and were able to find the friendly neighborhood Dunkin Donuts on 9th St and 5th ave. After snow hill climbing once again and dodging slush piles and then waiting inside for the friendly service to get some cookie dough ice cream. The newer place gave even better cups of ice cream than our usual place on 4th Ave and so the dessert dining was even better than usual. (Cookie dough was a nice change from my usual vanilla). The night came to a close watching more DVR programming and finally turning in around 2am.

Despite the weather and hardships experienced around the city I still had a pretty good weekend and was looking forward to the next weekend, a nice 3-day weekend. What will we do next?

0203-0205 -Low Impact Friday, High Impact Saturday, Super Sunday

There was no pressing need to go out on Friday, I stayed in after dinner and watched DVD (Dune - Special Edition, Sci Fi Channel version).
It seemed very entertaining to me but much longer than the 80's movie (Since the Sci Fi version more closely follows the book). I stayed up until around 2:30 and decided to head for bed.

Saturday I watched to DVR programming before Russ and I headed for the gym in the city. After working out we parted ways as he dealt with work issues and I picked up a new router at J and R. The Netgear router had been acting real cranky, going down for no reason and not supporting AOL sessions from Russ's login. So I picked up a new Belkin Router and left for home. Of course the trip home was more complicated than it needed to be because of track work which stopped train service from going to City Hall. I finally ended up taking the C Train from Park Place to Jay St, Boro Hall and then switching to the F train. I would have switched to the R train but since I just missed it I just walked home from 9th Street. After setting up the new router in about 30 minutes (modified IPs on all of the login machines and even added my DS) the new Belkin router was up and running and all was well with the internet! . I spent the rest of the afternoon just chilling out until Russ returned to BK and called up for an early dinner delivery. The chicken parmesan from Friends Cafe was good and I then began the evening ritual of haircut, cleanup, and wardrobe selection before heading out. I had already settled on the newest Sean Jean shirt, black pants and my new baseball hat that allowed moisture to escape (no more sweaty hats). The Jimmy arrived around 10:30 and we all hung out for a bit before leaving the house around 11am.

The trip into the city was quick and without too much traffic we were up the west side and parking. Even though the usual spaces were taken we found a new spot right next to the Spike Gallery and then we hung out for a bit since we did not need to walk in too early. I passed the time playing with my Nintendo DS, which was easy to handle in the near darkness at the end of the block due to the backlit screen. We finally left the car and made our way down the block and around the corner at 12:45 and waited on the Line. After doorman Derrick let us inside Roxy it was onto the cashiers and the friendly coat check. I then headed inside and saw that the place was slowly filling up with the usual mix of regulars and tourists. My bartenders were at the back bar but I realized I had left my Altoids in my coat so I had to make my first return trip to the coatcheck. After retrieving the mints I caught up with Russ and ! the Jimmy at the back bar and we delved into the first round of drinks. I talked with barman Barker for a bit and even told him that the new Jackson Hewitt commercial with Tarzan reminded me of someone and he laughed. I ran into Reggie and Rudolph back at the front near the entrance and after bringing Bob H. over to where the guys were near the front door I was able to head out onto the Dance floor with R and R. We danced for a bit before taking up some time on the box in across from the stage. I had already told Russ I was looking forward to a few dance mixes that were on my latest CD and I knew that DJ Manny Lehman would not disappoint. All of the current hot mixes made an appearance over the course of the night. After making sure of the attendance of all of my friends I returned to the coatcheck for a second time to retrieve some gift CDs from my coat for Rudolph and Reggie. Rudolph had a plane to catch the next day but would re! schedule if he ended up staying out too late. Of course as soon as Mariah Carey and "Don't Forget About Us" was on I was already on the speaker and made sure to let Reggie know this was the song I was talking about earlier. I had also warned Russ who was nice enough to come out to the dance floor and say hi to me up on the speaker to acknowledge I was right about the song on the playlist. When the song segued into the Percussion Mix of "Stroke" I was across the dancefloor and dancing on the stage for that one. The night itself continued to play itself out with all of the expected highs and more highs. Once again there were many people on their phones (so many Razrs) and people taking pics with their digital cameras. I was very conscientious of having my drinks in a specific order (Drink , Redbull, Gatorade, Drink, Redbull, Water, Drink and then whatever I darn well please.) Staying hydrated appeared to be key to being able to sustain the party mood well into the night. And we! ll into the night was where I ended up as I got more and more relaxed into the dance and the crowd filled the place up and kept on going. We stayed until 5am and walked outside and picked up the magazines and a taxi right on 10th ave. The trip home as quick and immediately upon arrival we headed back out of the house to pick up breakfast at Mickey D's. After returning to the house and devouring breakfast I cleaned up and fell into bed like I needed to.

Sunday I awoke around noon. Once again the first thing I involved myself in was Animal Crossing on the DS so I could see the turnip lady. Thank goodness we have her schedule down pat. Now if only I could get a good price during the rest of the week. So after that was taken care of I was able to start with the house cleaning and vacuuming. I also used the attachments to dust under the TV and next to the speakers. I even used the Clorox wipes to dust the dining room table base and the speakers. All of the wires for the laptops and the game controllers were put away and I was able to start with the cooking. 3 pans of Perdue wingettes took a while but I also prepared the macaroni salad and the dough in the breadmaker. Our very first delivery from Fresh Direct was completed and we took everything out of the boxes and prepared the spread before the guests arrived. Amy was the first to ar! rive and Russ picked her up at the train station (and a container of mayonnaise for my macaroni salad) and then returned pretty quickly. I had a little problem keeping the wingettes warm in the oven, (burned the paper towels) but otherwise all of the preparations went smoothly. Next to arrive was the Jimmy who brought us cranberry juice and the boxes for the various scores that were expected to happen. Shortly afterwards we welcomed Nathan and his significant other who were nicely impressed with the spread on the table. Last to arrive was Gary who just had taken longer on transportation than he originally intended. We all dug into the food and enjoyed the game. The commercials were OK too but some were just alright while some were very good. The Fedex, Burger King and Bud Light commercials were good. The Hummer and Careerbuilder commercials were just OK (he still hasn't found a new job?). The Superbowl had some tense m! oments but it ended just the way we all wanted and everyone went home happy and full. The hits of course were the home cooked portion of the meal and the deliveries and store bought salads were just average. Everyone said goodnight and then we cleaned up and made the house nice and quiet. I stayed up for a bit watching Jimmy Kimmel and some DVR programming before finally calling it a wrap myself. It was a very good weekend. And a Super Sunday.

01/27-01/29 - 3 Nights, 3 Boroughs, Always Moving, Always Fun

Went out Friday because I just felt kind of restless and was not looking forward to another Friday Night just staying in the house. Russ decided to stay in since he had hung out at a birthday party the night b4 on Thursday. I had some CDs to prepare before I went out so I did not leave the house until around 12:10. I got to the car service and had one of my friendly drivers bring me into the city. He asked me where I had been so I responded that I had been getting rides into the city with my friends. I got into the city with no drama and very quickly. Right up the west side, over on 18th and right out at 8th ave. I got into Gym and said hello to the doorman and then on inside to talk to some friends. Ty was there working because one of the other guys was not 100 percent and DJ Smokey was there also. I chatted with first one and then the other, while drinking my Rockstar and Stoli Orange before gifting the DJ with a pop CD ("Ice Pop"). Around 1am I said goodnight to the guys and headed out into the night. I stopped on 7th Ave to head into Duane Reade and the conveniently located Chase ATM. They even were thoughtful enough to have two ATMs in this drug store. I got my funds and then headed over to 6th Ave and picked up a bottle of water in the Pizzeria. I was then able to walk with the crowd over and into Splash and after getting inside I was downstairs and checking my coat before getting my first Smirnoff Ice at the bar. The bartender remembered me even though I had not been there in almost 2 months and had my drink with a glass of ice and a shot of Grenadine all set up and ready to go before I headed upstairs to check out the crowd. DJ duties for the eve were being helmed by DJ Alex Lauterstein who was welcomed back to the club for the first time this year. He seemed energetic enough for 1:15am hour when I arrived and the crowd was definitely feeling it as well. The place had 3 dancers on boxes, multiple people with bright blue glow bands, worn on wrists, necks and even dragged behind like pets. I stopped at the front for a second to give the cashier a copy of "Ice Pop" as well before heading into the crowd and up to the stage. The high point of the eve for me was when he threw on Mariah Carey and I danced on the box in front of the stage for "We Belong Together". Promoter Mark Nelson did a good job getting the boys inside and even handed out boxes of dirty movies (i ended up with 2 myself) to the people in attendance but the night seemed more detached than usual and it never really moved on and better from there. I still waited it out to see what would happen but gave up on the party around 3:30 and headed to the back to pick up the magazines before heading downstairs to pick up my coat and head out into the night. My taxi was right out front and after making sure he had directions back to BK. I rode back with the iPod Nano keeping me company and no stress all the way back to my block. The driver at one point thought I was sleeping but I knew I was almost home and not quite there yet. I got dropped and made my way upstairs to my bed and remembered to wash my face before I went to sleep.

Saturday includes the normal trip to the gym, a visit to J&R for a new router (Forget Netgear, now that I have my great Belkin Router) and then had a crazy train ride on C to the F home. After setting up the router on my network I rested at home for a bit before the rest of the evening got underway. Russ spent part of his afternoon working and then helping his officemates move into their new digs. He came back to BK to have his dinner of chicken parmesan hero while I went with a chicken parmesan dinner. After eating I took some time to get ready with a haircut, shower and put on the SJ shirt with the tan button-fly cargo pants and I was ready to take on the night.The Jimmy arrived around 10:20 and we all hung out for a bit before we headed out at 11am. Getting to the city was easy, a little traffic on the bridge, no problems on the west side and we even found a parking space on 18th street next to the construction site.

We had to sit in the car for 15 minutes so I read a book (no reason to walk in at 11:30pm). We finally left the car and made our way around the block to Roxy. After making it past security and the cashier and coat check we were inside with the crowd that was forming on this Saturday Night. Our DJ for the evening was DJ Peter Rauhofer who we had not heard at Roxy for more than 2 months (when Madonna visited). I was looking forward to hearing some new songs and interesting beats and I definitely was not disappointed. The energy in the beats was there from the beginning with tunes like "Mazska" and the faster beatmix version of "How Would You Feel." The place took a short while to fill up but by 12:45 there were plenty of people on the floor and people at the front and back bars keeping the place lively. Steve was there, along with Dwayne and a few others but I was surprised that more pe! ople I knew did not show up. Of course I did say hi to Carson Kressley at the back bar and while at the front bar I said hi to Lisa (who for some reason sent a broadcast page as if I needed to be reminded to come to Saturday Night at Roxy). I also said hello to Erik Rhodes who I had met some weeks ago and I had taken a picture with all smiles. By 2am the place was nice and packed and Peter made sure we knew what we were there for with interesting remixes of "Fascinated", along with "My Humps" by Black Eyed Peas, and around 3:50am we listened Mary J Blige and "Without You". I was one happy dancing person, having started out in the usual speaker across from the stage and then later appearing on the speaker next to the stage and then finally the stage itself. I also was found at 4:45am on the speaker box near the front door with my final dancing before calling it a night. I retrieved Russ and we found a taxi rig! ht outside. We headed back to BK and all was well once again wit h a great night out and fun until the very end. Of course when we got home Russ only had to make the suggestion to hit up the Mickey D's and I was there, eating a Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuit and hash browns at 5:30am in the morning. After that I cleaned up and went to bed. So nice to get some rest.

Sunday I woke up to delivery breakfast and enjoyed my bacon and eggs while watching Sports TV and DVR programming. After a brief visit from Bruce who stopped by for a quick break from the two little ones in NYC we set up our plans for the rest of the evening. We had a standing dinner invitation so after reminding Russ and checking with my sister we were headed out to Far Rockaway for some Cornish hens and all the fixings. The traffic on the belt was vicious but we got off at Flatbush and made our way over to Rockaway with no further issues. We were let in at the front door by my sister and were entertained with photo albums and TV basketball before the arrival of Emmett and then the rest of the family with Gigi, little Emmett, Iana and Moms. The dinner was finally served while we watched "The Longest Yard" and enjoyed the remake hard luck movie that was supposed to be uplifting but really was kind of ! depressing. We finished off the dinner and then my sis and I traded stuff inside of our DS versions of "Animal Crossing" before it was time to put on the shoes and coats and drive back to BK. After our goodnights we were on the road again and in far less traffic than the trip out. We picked up some McFlurries on the way home at Mickey D's and settled in at home to watch TV and settle down for the rest of the night. DVR programming and then some nice couch time and I was ready to draw the weekend to a close.

If only they all went this smoothly. Until next time.