17 Nov 2008   PHOTOS: A whole lotta catch up

So there's a veritable plethora of photos to post since October and through to today. Oy.

Let's start, shall we?

First up are some photos from when Larry & I went to see Madonna at Madison Square Garden. I've written quite a bit about the experience on my livejournal blog here, including the full rundown of the setlist. Needless to say, it was an incredible concert and I can only hope that it is released on DVD soon.

7 Oct 08 - Madonna at Madison Square Garden!
A great pic of Larry in the City	Here's the view looking south along the Hudson River	Me and Larry - aww...so cute	I really like this shot of the West Side of NYC

The next set of photos is from when we went down to visit the illustrious Jeff Crepeau in his new residence in the town of Hanover, Maryland. That's about a 3.5 hour drive from where I live so it was very cool to get to visit him. First off, his house is situated on a little reservoir lake so literally his backyard porch has a gorgeous peaceful view. We ended up going to Medieval Times that first evening, which was a blast. The next day, we headed into Washington, D.C. While there, we saw the International Spy Museum (very cool), 5 Guys Burger Joint (basically the food tasted almost exactly like In-N-Out burgers out west, which was AWESOME), the WWII Memorial, the Washington Monument, and finally the Air & Space Museum. There was a lot of walking. Crazily enough at the end of the voyage on the last Green Line metro stop, we were walking to the car and I hear this person call my name. It was Byron Kelly along with Connie and Aidan. He was in town for an inspection and they had come up to visit. Talk about a small world! It was a good trip and I look forward to eventually heading back and/or having Jeff back up.

11 & 12 Oct 08 - Visiting Jeff in Maryland and D.C.
Jeff's view from his backyard porch	It's the illustrious Jeff Crepeau!	There's my Larry!	And there's my old patio furniture in much more picturesque scenery	Me at the Hunting store, hitting on the mannequin	At Medieval Times, Larry enjoys some ale	So cute	The Jeffster
Scary me	Larry and me await the games	One more shot	We were in the Black & White Knight's section - he's the one that dies first. Great.	A blurry self shot with all of us in it	It's the DC Metro - I love the spacey subway stations	A different ISO setting	And here's a cool shot (to me) of the trains as we were going up the escalator
Playing Fallout 3 makes me chuckle seeing these photos	We did visit the House Where Lincoln Died	Here's the outside of the Spy Museum	There's Larry!	And Jeff, iPhoning it up	A long distance view of the Spy Museum	And here's the FBI Building	Jeff wants you to keep quiet about it
Seriously	I just like to point	And Larry does his best TenchHut!	The White House - future home of Obama!!!	Me and the White House	Larry too	Both of us!	I crush you!
It's so funny we have such a phallic monument in our capital city	Here's a view of the relatively new WWII memorial	It's got a lot of fountains	There's both an Atlantic and a Pacific building	Looking towards the Washington Monument	And looking towards the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pools	Me and the Larryster	Walking towards the Air & Space Museum via the Washington Monument
It is pretty impressive!	In the distance, that's the Jefferson Memorial	And here's the Air & Space Museum, which I hadn't been to in YEARS!	The original Wright Flyer!!!	And the Kelly family, who I still can't believe I saw!

Then we had a few weeks of low-key activities and then it was off to Las Vegas to celebrate my Mom's 60th Birthday!!!! Of course it was a blast, Larry got to meet my folks (and vice versa), and I got to win (and lose) a lot of money in Blackjack and Craps. It was a good time and a nice vacation. I also was so happy to get to see my Mom and Harv, as well as Aunt Mary and Uncle JC. Good times!! For Mom's birthday dinner, we went to Benihana's, which was fantastic. It's hard to go wrong with that. Other events were going to see the Beatles' LOVE show at the Mirage (these were even more optimal seats to sit in as opposed to the first time I saw it - alone - as this time for the Within You, Without You number, you could see the total surreal moment when the little bed is flying on the ultra-large, arena-filling sheet), checking out the Donny & Marie show at the Flamingo (they put on a very good show and have a great sense of humor and fantastic voices - and they were working it), and of course going to the Rollercoasters all around the city. Oh yeah, also drinking a lot! It was a long and fun time, and here are the pics I took from it!

23, 24 & 25 Oct 08 - Las Vegas for Mom's Birthday
Larry up on top of Stratosphere	With some flash	Me too! I survived Insanity!	Insanity	It's ridiculous	You're looking straight down. And can see the Stratosphere from angles no one should ever see it from.	The rapidly developing skyline of the Strip. Wow.	Me and Larry!
The view right before you strap in for X-Scream. Ugh.This ride is just as intense as I remembered.	That's the teeter-totter of doom right there aka X-Scream.	Down at MGM, the lions were playing around	Well, you kinda have to go to NY NY Casino as it's so true to what NYC is really like.	Paris Las Vegas!	Harv and Mom at Benihana's	Me and Larry there too	One of these chips I won. The other...not so much. I wish.
		A video clip of Insanity on the Stratosphere. Truly terrifying. (~3MB)
Larry in front of the Bellagio

Flash forward a few days and it was then my birthday! I turned 32. Ugh. But I am being dramatic. It's not really all that bad and I am in a pretty good place, all things considered. Larry & Shelly took me to see Mamma Mia! on Broadway and to Blue Smoke BBQ for dinner on the Sunday before my birthday, which fell on that Monday. Unfortunately Larry had to go to Boston on that day, so I didn't really do anything all that interesting on the day of my birthday, but that was okay. At work, it was a great birthday with cards, cake, and cupcakes. Oh yeah! I didn't take really any pictures of any birthday festivities though. Instead I took pics of Rockefeller Center because it was all decked out as Election Plaza because of course the Presidential Election was taking place the next day. It is a pretty cool thing to see 30 Rock all lit up - check it out for yourself:

3 Nov 08 - Election Plaza
The set up of the Rink and the Plaza	You can just see the outline of the states before they got colored in the next night	And thar she be	Pretty dramatic, eh?	That's a dramatic building for ya	A little further back towards 5th Avenue

And that brings us to today! The Rockefeller Plaza Christmas Tree has been brought in already (it showed up either last Thursday or Friday) and now it's been lifted up and scaffolded. There's lots of workers working on trimming the tree and loading it up with lights. I believe the tree-lighting ceremony isn't until the week after Thanksgiving. At that point, I will need a healthy dose of relaxants as the FTPs will converge right on the Plaza and it makes life here ridiculous. Oy.

17 Nov 08 - Random Rock Shots
The tree all scaffolded up	Me and the NBC logo - notice in the pictures in the Election Plaza section - these are from that	Goofy Hobie	Pondering Hobie	Evan likes the tree!	And there's Vanessa, one of my cubicle mates at work

That does catch you up on my pics. Oy. That only took like 3 hours....jeez!