A Great Weekend to Gain an Hour of Sleep (or, Goodbye Daylight Savings)

Wow, what a weekend, and I didn't even partake in any Halloween festivities. Okay, that last part is not entirely true. I did attend two Halloween parties, but for those who know me, my costume fell far short of my usual standards. I went as a married New Yorker. It was a stretch.

Even dressed as myself, I had a pretty good time this weekend. On Friday, I saw a band called Virginia Coalition at the Blue Note. My friend Charlie (who is a ying-yang version of Forrester: same look, no ego) grew up with the drummer, so he invited us to check out the show. The concert was in the late slot, scheduled to begin at 12:30. After cooking a nice dinner at home, my wife and I headed over to the club, using my huge umbrella to shield us from the rain. We got in line about midnight and met up with Charlie and his friends, and waited, and waited, and waited.

At 1:00 AM, we still hadn't gotten in the club, so the male portion of the group tried another route: we helped the band unload the truck, hoping that would get our group in. We were wrong. Unfortunately, we ran into Doogie Howser, Club Doorman. So we got back in line and waited for another 30 minutes. Finally, after my wife's arm was completely soaked, we got in and sat down to see Virginia Coalition. They were pretty good (they played a great jam band cover of "No Diggity"), and they played a long show, so we didn't get home until after four. What's really weird is that of all the tiny little touring bands in the country, we had already seen Virginia Coalition -- in Tempe last year when the band opened for G. Love. Let's see, I've never seen the Stones or Dylan, I've only seen Radiohead and the Roots once, and now I've seen some random college band from Virginia twice? That doesn't make sense.

After sleeping in on Saturday, we walked around the neighborhood, picking up a few items at the new Brooklyn Industries (I finally own a sweatshirt). Then, after a great nap, we went to a Halloween party at one of our friend's apartments. She's from ASU, goes to fashion school and lives with two gay guys -- so not only was I probably the only straight guy there (with the exception of the jerk in the turtleneck and blazer), but I was probably the worst dressed guy in the room (again, with the exception of the jerk in the turtleneck and blazer).

After enjoying the plentiful appetizer and strong drinks, we walked out into the cold, bought two large keg cans of Heineken and headed down to Pier 40 to watch . . .

(are you ready for it?)


(really ready?)


RUGBY! Yes, Stern has a rugby team, though you wouldn't have known it from the way the team got crushed by Columbia's rugby team. There we were, standing on a soaking wet fake field on a pier, with the temperature falling and a quite a strong wind. Good thing someone brought some Knob Creek to warm us up. Anyway, rugby is a weird sport. It's sort of a combination of olde time football, youth soccer, smear the queer and cheerleading. Yes, cheerleading. On throw ins, the players get into four small groups and lift up guys by their shorts. I found the whole thing fascinating, mainly because even the players couldn't explain the rules to me.

After the match finished, we jumped in a cab and headed uptown, to the upper west side, to another Halloween party -- one hosted by one of my wife's friends from high school. In fact, true to form out came the high school yearbook. Ah, nothing like good friends, good drinks and the old high school yearbook on a Halloween.

Next year I'm dressing up.

Broncos, Baby

Two quick observations at halftime of week 5's Monday Night game

--Good thing the announcing crew had a guest in the booth during the first half. As much as I've complained about Tirico, Kornheiser and Theisman, I think they needed someone else in the booth, since the halftime score was just 3-3. And they had the guy who plays Mike Delfino on Desperate Housewives in the booth. He was pretty funny. Best line:

Actor who plays Mike: "There's this fitness trek, and these people run, kayak, or bike for 450 miles through the desert."

Joe Theisman: "They kayak through the desert?"

Actor: "That's the tough part."

--How 'bout those Bears. I'm glad I married into this. 5-0, with two blow outs. The last three teams to score 50 consecutive points (over two games, shutting out opponents over the stretch) all won the Super Bowl, including those 1985 Bears. These Bears have an easy schedule ahead of them, so maybe they can take some time to write a better rap song.

Update: The Monstrosity Across the Street

So here's what they've been building outside my window. I have no clue how long it will be here. At least it's not my nice rooftop deck that they are using.

First, they had to build a platform to get up to the fifth-floor rooftop balcony.


























Then, they added another seven floors of scaffolding.


























Finally, they added a little workspace up at the top, along with a really fancy staircase to get up there. You really have to see them use the bucket and pulley to get gear up to the top floor.

Like a fruit, that's ripe for the picking

This is what music videos should look like. I don't need to see your cars, or your grills, or your girls, or your band all made up in mascara, or you leaning into the camera singing, or anything else that has become so stereotypical.

Just give me puppets and a song about a threesome. That is what it is about, right?





I met you at JC Penny
I think your nametag said Jenny
I could step to you
With a fresh pack of gum
If somehow I knew you were looking for some
(oh no!)
Like a fruit that's ripe for the picking'
I wouldn't do you like that
Zankou Chicken
'Cause only you got a thing
That I just got to get with
I just got to get
Get with you
And you know what we're gonna do
I wanna get with you (Oh girl)
And your sister
I think her name is Debra
I wanna get with you (Only you girl)
And your sister
I think her name is Debra
Girl, I only wanna be down with you
'Cause you got something
That I just got to get with
I'll pick you up late at night after work
I said lady, Step inside my Hyundai
I'm gonna take up to Glendale
Yeah
I'm gonna take you for a feel good meal
'Cause when our eyes did meet
Girl, you know I was packing' heat
Ain't no use in wasting no time?
Getting to know each other
You know the deal
'Cause only you got a thing
That I just got to get with
Got to get with
I just got to get with you girl
I wanna get with you (Only you Girl)
And your sister
I think her name is Debra
I wanna get with you (Girl yeah)
And your sister
I think her name is Debra (Ohhhh)
(Come on)
Oh lovely lady
Girl you drive me crazy
Crazy! (Oh girl)
And you sister
Debra
Yeah, you're driving me crazy
Crazy (Oh)
Yeah
I got a little bit of sympathy for you girl

Mindblowing

I originally wanted to title this post, "Fuck N.G." because he saw this guy, along with Del (a/k/a Del the Funky Homosapien, Deltron) last night, but that would have made the post about N.G.

Instead, this should be about Mike Relm.

Watch.

How stupid is America?

Pretty stupid. At least that's what a current batch of commercials would have me believe. For example, one new car commercial shows its new model morphing into a stylized cartoon car that speeds around town, even driving upside down in a tunnel. Small print at the bottom of the ad tells the viewer that the ad is a "fictionalization." Really? I thought we had invented the upside-down driving technology.

The new Beck's beer commercial shows us a variety of statistics, including that the average human being spends (these are from my memory and not likely to be correct) 1.73% of their life checking themselves out, and 0.14% watching things drip. Again, the viewer is told "all statistics made up."

Really, the least common denominator keeps getting lower.

Other things that are bothering me right now:

-The workers across the street from me. Right across the street, there's a balcony, with another 10 stories above it. Anyway, on the balcony right now is a bunch of scaffolding that goes up another 10 stories. I guess the penthouse is remodeling. While it is probably worse for the people who own that balcony, I don't like having people looking in my apartment all day, nor the fact that they begin work about 30 minutes before my alarm goes off. My apartment also smells like turpentine during the day.

-Catalogs. Whether it's the new address or the increase in Internet shopping, we are getting tons of catalogs. They all suck.

-An annoying girl in my marketing class. She's a Southern Belle. She's also clueless and likes to share her opinions, whether they are about Wal-Mart (something we've not even covered in that class) or her uncle's pet rock from the 1970s.

-Monday Night Football on ESPN. With my wife as the color announcer, I think we could announce a better game. The entire team misses some very obvious analysis. Despite his voice, Kornheiser made some good points in the first few games---then dropped off the planet with the last two games. I might watch the Broncos MNF game on mute this week.

-Finding a restaurant in New York. There's too many, and then there's not enough at the same time. Too many places to choose from, but not enough good, cheap, comfortable places. I miss Pita Jungle and Oregano's.

-Mets fans.

-Yankees fans. But not as much as Mets fans. I guess this is what a 10-year playoff drought does.