Tag: eric

Valentine’s day in Albany

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I gave Kelly her Valentine’s gift yesterday, since we had a busy day today, and she gave me not one but two cards this morning, which made me realize that I hadn’t gotten her any cards.  Nevertheless, we had a very nice Valentine’s day–our first as a married couple.  I was up at 6 AM to feed the cats, came back upstairs and told Kelly that I was probably just going to get up, since I was already awake.  I then promptly fell back asleep for another hour or so, which she found very amusing.

We flew out of Reagan/National and once again, it’s great living so close to that airport.  The flight to Albany was less than 1/4 full.  In fact, there were 19 people on a plane that holds 80.  It was quite possibly the emptiest flight I’ve ever been on.  We left the gate 10 minutes early and arrived in Albany nearly half an hour early.  strausmouse  was there to meet us, and we piled into his car and headed to a nearby mall where we met rmstraus  and their little dude for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.  Then it was back to their house to hang out, and where lots of talk about babies took place.

Eric made an excellent dinner that consisted of pasta with sweet potatoes, to say nothing of a side salad with some homemade dressing.  And there was some pumpkin ale to go along with it.  Yum!  For dessert, there were chocolate-filled strawberries and ice cream.  We ate dessert while playing a few games of Apples to Apples.  Ryane won the first game and Eric somehow managed to win the second game.  It’s hilarious to watch those two play any game together.  Around 10 PM, Kelly and I called it a night.

Happy Birthday strausmouse, etc.

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First, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY shout out to strausmouse .  For your birthday, I give you warmer weather than you’ve been having lately. You can thank me later.

Etc.:

I know, it’s been a few days.  I’ve had intermittent wireless access and limited time.  Nevertheless, I’ve got the backdated posts  mostly written and should get them posted shortly.  Just a few quick items of business.  Doug has a blog!  (And kruppenheimer  will be happy to see just how much the content of Doug’s blog entries take after his big brother’s.)  I have passed the halfway mark in The Hard SF Renaissance.  More on that shortly.  No writing today, but some notes and ideas down on paper and maybe I’ll squeeze in a little bit of writing sometime tomorrow.  Along with the aforementioned backdated blog posts.

G’night, all!

Addendum

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Since I almost always mention my evening calls and who I talked to during the day, and knowing how sensitive a certain someone can be, I would be remiss in my journaling duties if I failed to mention the fact that I spoke to strausmouse on the phone this evening. (I also called vickyandnorm but, alas, only got to speak to their answering machine.)

Rainbow Room Birthday Bash 2008

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Saturday began early for I was anxious to see everyone and wanted to get an early start. Kelly and I had gone to bed around midnight and I was up at 6:40 AM. I showered and then headed downstairs to sit on the couch and read until everyone else woke up. Kelly was up early too, and so we waited for vickyandnorm (Norm and Vicky) and kruppenheimer (Lisa) to awaken and get ready. It didn’t take too long but it seemed as though it took forever. However, we were ready to go by 9 AM, which is what I was hoping for, and at that point, we hit the road.

How’s this for a great day…

New York weekend, day 1

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[Written on November 12, 2007]

Kelly and I hit the road at 7 AM. The GPS predicted a 11:12 AM arrival in Stony Point at vickyandnorm‘s house. We were there at almost exactly 11 AM. Boy, making that drive with someone to talk to in the car makes a huge difference. The time flew by and what was ultimately 4 hours seemed like a mere 60 minutes. Kelly is an awesome driving companion!

Come join the adventure

Albany day 2/Stony Point day 1

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I was up at about 7:15 AM this morning, in time to see strausmouse head off to work for a little while. I hung around the house with rmstraus and little Damian until Eric got back. We went for lunch along the Hudson River at a nice riverside cafe. There was a great breeze blowing and it was not too humid out either. After lunch, we headed back to Eric and Ryane’s house and I got my picture taken with Damian. Then it was time for Damian to head to the doctor’s office and time for me to make the drive down to Stony Point.

It took a little under 2 hours to make the drive and toward the end, I was going against traffic, which was kind of nice. vickyandnorm live on the edge of Harriman State Park, and the drive down Palisades Parkway was a nice one. I arrived at their house just before 5 PM to find their cars parked on the street–apparently, there was some work that still needed to be done to all of the curbs in the neighborhood, and their driveway still requires it’s final surfacing as well.

And their street doesn’t exist yet. At least, as they explained to me, they have to go to the post office to pick up their mail. Until their street shows up on some map, I guess it simply doesn’t exist. I wonder if they could get away with temporarily being their own country?

It was nice to see the house completely finished and furnished and it looked great. In fact, I was jealous and I decided at once that I’d never be able to buy a house because I’d take one look at the places that I would be willing to pay for and picture Norm and Vicky’s little kingdom and be disappointed with what I had. I got the full tour, of course, including the long awaited “Jamie Rubin Memorial Bedroom”, which was done up in a beach motif, like the other “beach room” in the house.

At 6 PM, we headed out to the Palisades Mall in order to go to Tu Tu Tango for dinner, which is a kind of tapas joint. Very, very good, especially thanks to the spring roll recommendation by strausmouse. Vicky had gotten us tickets for the 9:30 PM showing of The Simpson’s Movie. We finished our dinner with plenty of time to spare and so we wandered over to Coldstone for some ice cream. By the time we got in line for the movie, it was just being let into the theater.

The movie itself was hilarious and I really enjoyed it. I’ve only ever seen a handful of episodes of the cartoon, but I could imagine myself seeing more. It’s the kind of movie which, when released on DVD, could be watched over and over again, with something new being discovered each time.

Tomorrow, we pick up Norm and Vicky’s new kitten.

A visit to Albany, day 1

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Yesterday, after dropping Zeke off at the vet, I got on the road to head up to Albany to visit strausmouse and rmstraus. I was on the road by 8:20 AM and made surprisingly good time. In fact, I’d covered the entire 360 mile drive in under 6 hours and arrived at Eric and Ryane’s at about 2:15 PM. The new GPS worked great. I didn’t use Eric’s directions, and instead, followed what the nav unit told me and it got me to their house without trouble. There was no traffic at all, which helped.

Once there, I met little Damian for the first time, and what a cutie he is! He is energetic, but quiet. He smiles and laughs. All told, he is very much the way Eric describes him. I got to see Cali, too, who was her usual calm self. Ryane and Damian and Cali and I hung out until Eric got home from work. Once Eric was home, I helped him out with some computer-related stuff (like setting up his webcam) and then we headed out for dinner. We went to a Vietnamese place that they like and it was terrific. I don’t remember the name of what I ordered, but it was the same thing that Eric had and it was great! Especially the spring rolls and the sauce that they use. It was also way more than I could eat so there were plenty of left-overs.

We have about half the day to hang out today and then I head down to Stony Point, New York, to spent some time with vickyandnorm.

Congratulations Eric and Ryane!

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I was going to wait until strausmouse posted something on his blog announcing the birth of their son, back on April Fools Day, but it occurred to me that Eric may never post another entry again, now that he has been promoted to the ranks of parenthood. Or at least, he may not post again for the next 18 years. My understanding of parenthood is that would-be parents can’t wait for the baby to be born and, once born, can’t wait until the kid is 18 and has moved out of the house.

Congratulations Eric and Ryane

I spoke with Eric about 3 hours after the baby was born and he sounded more or less in shock, although in good spirits. For a while, I thought that Eric and Ryane might be the mysterious couple attempting to name their baby Metallica. But when I spoke to him, he said that as much as he would have liked to name the boy Metallica (or even better, Slayer), they decided on Damian Lucas Straus. Damian is, of course, Eric’s middle name and comes from the movie The Exorcist (I’m not kidding). Eric is a big George Lucas fan and he explained to me that is where the middle name came from.

Actually, Eric and Ryane will make super parents. Eric, of course, will ensure that Damian has an excellent memory for rock and roll music, to say nothing of volumes of useless information. (Believe it or not, Eric knows far more trivia than I do. I am an amateur by comparison.) Ryane will see to it that Damian has common sense, to say nothing of a deathly fear of ever using Wikipedia for his homework. Damian’s big (and rather hisute) sister, Cali, will have him talking before he’s six month old. Of course, he’ll be barking…

It will be interesting to see if Damian turns out to be a Cardinals fan or an Angels fan. Of course, the Cardinals have lost every game they have played since Damian was born, so he might want to look closely at the Angels…

Seriously, though, congratulations to both you guys. I can’t wait to come and visit, knowing full well that I will be able to go home afterward… 😉

Evening roundup

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I just finished watching the first inning of the Mets/Cardinals game, which is the first official baseball game of the 2007 baseball season. My TiVo is set to record the opening day Yankees game tomorrow so I can skim through it when I get home from work.

I celebrated some good news this evening by having four (4) Reeses Peanut Butter CupsTM. strausmouse and I used to eat Reeses and a Coke (or Pepsi) during lunch in high school. It really is a great combination, but I had to forgo the Coke (or Pepsi) tonight because I was out of the caffeine-free stuff. I had grape soda instead.

Locus has finally posted it’s annual April Fools Day articles which are amusing as always.

I got my hair cut this evening. I was the last person they took and I felt like they were rushing, but it still came out alright in the end so no big deal. I spoke briefly on the phone with jen_ashlock who for reasons of National Security has changed her name tohe11o_sunshine. I also spoke on the phone with strausmouse.

I was lazy again this afternoon, dozing for a few hours on the couch. I don’t know why.

I’m off to bed now. I’m 365 pages through I. Asimov and plan to get a little more reading done before lights out. Nice spring weather the next couple days, windy, but highs in the upper 70s. And I have to work…

The Cleveland Crew: Part Deux

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Okay, I simply cannot resist posting here what strausmouse wrote in my year book because when I read it just now for the first time in 17 years, it had me laughing so hard I was nearly in tears. So, without further preface or delay, here’s what Eric had to say:

There once was this guy
Jamie was his name
He met some dude named Eric
And never was the same.
They were too busy writing stories
To pay attention in class
So when they got “C”‘s
Their parents kicked their ass
But that was only part of the fun
That those two guys shared
Like on the beach basking in the sun
Or making Rhonda scared
Heavy metal became the best music
But no one else liked it
So in that respect they were normal
(That is, the two guys who liked it)
The Aerosmith concert was pretty awesome
Um, remember when you brush your teeth
Afterwards, floss ’em
Uh, er, Ms. Cohen was a drag
That we all know
But the little kid in me
Thinks the taste steals the show
Uh, oh boy (I’m reaching here)
Well, it’s been a great year
Full of laughter and even some fear (?)
(Help) Uh, er, well Metallica is cool
Don’t fall in a pool
You bloody fool
Get Tawnya in the sack, er, man
Always remember *

So the last words of the last line are written in a language that Eric and I learned playing Ultima and used it for writing in code. When I read this today, it took me only five seconds to recall how to read it and it is very funny, but I’ll leave it to Eric to decide if he wants to reveal what it says.