Moribund?

Contrary to popular belief, my blog is not on life support. However, my buddy The Wig did refer to it as comatose. More on that later.

So the last month and a half has been pretty busy and exciting. I think I'll tell you all about it. Back in mid-April, we took a little jaunt to NYC. The wife and I flew into JFK with my sis and retinue and had a nice van ride through Queens that Thursday before we got dropped of at the Helmsley Park Lane on Central Park South. It was my sister's 50th birthday and the decision was made to do it in style. 

 

After checking in, my wife and I stopped at the bar for our "complimentary" drink. Those Tanqueray martinis go for $22 a pop in the big city. I paid for it one way or another. After that we wandered around arguing about where we were going to dinner until we came upon a semi-touristy joint called Rue 57. It ended up being pretty decent and they got in my good graces by having a solid California Zin on the wine list. 

 

After dinner The Case of The Missing CPAP kicked off. I had completely forgotten the thing so I called the airline and they fortunately had it. All I had to do was pony up $40 for a courier service. I explained the situation to my friends at the front desk and left them an envelope with some cash. I believe it got delivered late that night but I never got my hands on it until Saturday. I kept going down to the front desk but nobody knew nuttin'. Finally the security guy came up with it a couple days after it was delivered. In the interim, I snored.

The next day's event was the Tour de Slice, in which a group of West Coasters ventured out to sample the world's best pizza. They were equipped with the type of wrist bands quarterbacks use to hold their plays. These had directions and addresses of the pizzerias. The first stop was Brooklyn's legendary Di Fara's. I missed out on this. There was too much walking involved anyway.

I missed the tour because I had lunch plans with a pal I hadn't seen in 32 years. I'll call him Kagatz. That's what the maintenance guys at Binghamton Central High used to call us when we worked together there in the summer of '79. Actually they called everyone, and everything, Kagatz. Don't ask me why. That was a pretty tough summer for both of us. We had to work three to four hours a day in between watching the regulars smoke butts in the head honcho's office.

So Kagatz and I picked up where we left off, chatting about the hoops game we used to run in and wish we still could. We traded tales of the last three decades and I told him we better get together before another 32 years pass, since I might be dead. He picked up the tab so lunch in SF is on me Kagatz.

I then cabbed it over to the West Side to meet my brother at the Museum of Natural History. We toured the joint for a few hours, cracking wise about taxidermy and relics. We made a quick stop at the cafe so bro could have a $5 cup of tea before we headed back to the hotel. Friday evening was a warm up for the main event scheduled for Saturday. We made sure to grab our complimentary drink in the bar with my cousins before we headed up to my sister's room. Dinner consisted of warm nuts in between sips of gin in the bar and some cheese in my sister's suite. I did some dancing to impress some of her Class of '80 pals. They were probably surprised that such a sad, strange man went to the same high school as they did.

Saturday was mellow day. The wife and I met my brother and niece at this fine establishment.

http://eatalyny.com/

My wife bought some pasta which I turned into an awesome carbonara after we got home, but that's off topic. The four of us had a tasty inexpensive lunch then the wife and I headed back to midtown for a nice walk in Central Park. We took a little rest and then met the rest of the crew, which totaled about 40, at Rouge Tomato for some rockin' heavy hors d'oeuvres and drinks. A lot of people love my little sis!

The next adventure was in DC for Sonny Boy #1's college graduation a couple weeks back.  Our 5:30pm flight got out about 7:30pm so we got into our destination in suburban MD around 4:30am. We stayed at my wife's brother's house. They always take good care of us.

Friday we made about five trips back and forth between the dorm and SB1's new apartment in Arlington. I met some of his friends and made a conscious effort not to embarrass him by showing my real self. That evening we went out to a good Italian dinner. I saw journalist Jonathan Capeheart at the restaurant, said howdy, and told him I liked his work. I've only seen him on MSNBC, but he comes across as quite intelligent and reasonable. I generally don't do such things but I had had a couple pops. SB1 had a martini with me, one of his last free drinks,

Saturday was the smaller ceremony,for Columbian College of GWU, in which the boy got handed his diploma. He was sitting in the last row so he got his about tenth from last. It was worth the wait. 

 

We then had a great dinner at a joint called PS7. I tried dodging the tab but eventually picked it up.. I figured I owed the in-laws at least that for invading their calm manse. I did try to get my mother in law to kick in a few bucks, but no dice.

Sunday was the whole enchilada on the National Mall. The commencement speaker was Brian Williams and Carlos Slim, who got an honorary doctorate, spoke as well. Carlos must have bought them a few new buildings. Williams was pretty funny. Maybe I can write some material for him. Then again, maybe not. He actually never received his degree. It appears he did OK. We were blessed with great weather, as opposed to getting mugged with mugginess as my boy will be this summer. It may make him run back to NorCal. We'll see.

On that Monday we headed down to Richmond, VA to see the recently re-located Wigs. They have a great new place with plenty of room. Wig and I headed into town for a drink and to pick up some takeout. We went down Monument Ave, past the statues of Confederate heroes. After we finished our pints, The Wig started joshing a college student in the bar. I had to explain to the kid that Wig has been busting my chops for over 30 years.

The highlight of the trip was when the Wigs very generously treated us to an evening at The Inn at Little Washington. This is one of those meals that you get every couple of years. We shared all our courses so everyone got a taste. My wife got the Pepper Crusted Tuna that I mentioned in my February 27th post. After dinner we got a chance to chat up chef and proprietor Patrick O'Connell. The Wig told him about his days working at Mortimers, an Upper East Side high society restaurant from the last century. I used to visit the Wig there, wearing my Timberland boots. Clueless then and now. In any case, O'Connell graciously gave us a tour of the kitchen. There's a picture of him with his Dalmatians, and he was wearing a Dalmatian print apron.

So to wrap things up, I had to ask Wig if this treat was a ruse to get some blog exposure. That's when he called it comatose. But it's not comatose. Nor moribund. It's monthly