I first went to New Orleans while on a cruise in 1995 or '96 (it was long ago so I don't remember exactly when). It was the first time I had ever been to a Hooters and I had no idea that would become such a hobby for me.
I went back to New Orleans in 2001. My family drove from Florida to meet me there. Of course I went to two more Hooters restaurants, one of which is currently listed as "Closed indefinitely" on their website after the hurricane. I kinda figured something like that would happen because I saw that neighborhood in the news coverage and it looked bad. The other Hooters location I went to on this trip (currently listed as being re-built) was one of the worst times I've ever had at a Hooters. They were downright rude and refused to pose for pictures with me until I spoke with the manager and told him that I was so disappointed that I was going to call Corporate. I wound up settling for a picture with a waitress wearing a long-sleeve shirt over her "uniform". I only needed the photographic proof that I was actually there so that was good enough, but it was a huge hassle to get at all.
Anyway, you can read more about that trip here and see the photos here.
Speaking of the hurricane, I found that the Google Map page has satellite pictures of New Orleans after it hit. You can zoom in on the Superdome, for example, and see the damage to the roof. You can see highways that seem to just disappear into the flooding. And you can also look at the older satellite pictures and see what it all looked like before anything ever happened -- just click around the "Satellite" and "Katrina" buttons to see what I mean (since there is no way to know how long they'll keep those buttons up there, you should check it out soon).
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Monday, August 15, 2005
Deep-fried Oreos
Had some at Old Orchard Beach yesterday...who woulda thunk that there would be such a thing. For some reason they seem especially good when chased by a Dr. Pepper.
I've always liked O.O.B. because there is much to do, especially if you enjoy drinking. ;-)
The epicenter is around the pier and everything else sort of spreads out from there.
I've always liked O.O.B. because there is much to do, especially if you enjoy drinking. ;-)
The epicenter is around the pier and everything else sort of spreads out from there.
The Aristocrats
Go see it before it's too late. It is one of the rudest, sickest, grossest movies -- I love it! Check out the South Park version of the story.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Eagle-Tribune -- June 29, 2005
I wrote this that appeared in today's Eagle-Tribune newspaper:
There are ways to ease gridlock
I have been commuting to and from Boston and Cambridge for 18 years. I have been fortunate that most of those years have been outside of a typical 9-to-5 schedule because my 32-mile trip would easily take more than an hour using Interstates 495 and 93 (and that doesn't count the extra 15 to 30 minutes it takes for the 2.5 miles between my office and the highway).
Highway delays can be attributed to many factors, not the least of which are accidents and the sheer volume during peak periods. For example, many people may be surprised at how a modestly-sized hill can help to choke rush-hour traffic. While there isn't anything that can be done to flatten hills, drivers can help each other by maintaining constant speeds on the inclines. If everyone used cruise control and kept an even steady speed, you wouldn't see other people jamming on their brakes because someone ahead of them is losing speed while going uphill (and let's not forget the better gas mileage you get when you maintain steady speeds).
Drivers can also help each other by staying out of each other's way. If you want to go 40 mph on a major highway, do not stay in the left lanes. Just as excessive speed kills, so can excessive slowness. I can't begin to tell you how many accidents and near-misses I have seen when someone was going too slowly in the left lane, causing everyone else to suddenly swerve right to avoid hitting them. I am not saying that everyone needs to go fast, I am simply saying that we all need to respect each other and use a lane that suits our speeds.
Unfortunately, even if everyone were to cooperate with each other in a perfect world, there are still many more factors that are beyond our own control. Roads designed with lane drops tend to create bottlenecks — and if the lane drop occurs in conjunction with a hill, such as the Leverett Connector/Storrow Drive exit off of I-93 southbound in Boston, you're basically doomed to be delayed. You're also doomed at many of the major interchanges where there is a lack of accelerate/decelerate and merge lanes like there are in other parts of the country.
I've traveled to almost every major city in our country and have spent considerable amounts of time in many of them (often up to several months at a time in some cities). I've seen solutions used elsewhere that could help our traffic troubles here. I've seen the median strips between highway lanes used for express rail service (with only a limited number of stops along the way so they would be quicker than standard commuter rail service). I have also seen median strips used for reversible express/toll travel lanes (again with only a limited number of entrance/exit points), similar to the reversible lane known as "the zipper lane" between Boston and Braintree. Since the governments of Massachusetts and New Hampshire already own or control the median strips and the land between the lanes, perhaps they can look into using them for similar solutions. Yes, they would require money to be spent for construction, but they can pay for themselves over time. I know I would not mind dropping a buck into a basket if it is going to get me in or out of Boston more quickly.
DAVID S. STRUFFOLINO
There are ways to ease gridlock
I have been commuting to and from Boston and Cambridge for 18 years. I have been fortunate that most of those years have been outside of a typical 9-to-5 schedule because my 32-mile trip would easily take more than an hour using Interstates 495 and 93 (and that doesn't count the extra 15 to 30 minutes it takes for the 2.5 miles between my office and the highway).
Highway delays can be attributed to many factors, not the least of which are accidents and the sheer volume during peak periods. For example, many people may be surprised at how a modestly-sized hill can help to choke rush-hour traffic. While there isn't anything that can be done to flatten hills, drivers can help each other by maintaining constant speeds on the inclines. If everyone used cruise control and kept an even steady speed, you wouldn't see other people jamming on their brakes because someone ahead of them is losing speed while going uphill (and let's not forget the better gas mileage you get when you maintain steady speeds).
Drivers can also help each other by staying out of each other's way. If you want to go 40 mph on a major highway, do not stay in the left lanes. Just as excessive speed kills, so can excessive slowness. I can't begin to tell you how many accidents and near-misses I have seen when someone was going too slowly in the left lane, causing everyone else to suddenly swerve right to avoid hitting them. I am not saying that everyone needs to go fast, I am simply saying that we all need to respect each other and use a lane that suits our speeds.
Unfortunately, even if everyone were to cooperate with each other in a perfect world, there are still many more factors that are beyond our own control. Roads designed with lane drops tend to create bottlenecks — and if the lane drop occurs in conjunction with a hill, such as the Leverett Connector/Storrow Drive exit off of I-93 southbound in Boston, you're basically doomed to be delayed. You're also doomed at many of the major interchanges where there is a lack of accelerate/decelerate and merge lanes like there are in other parts of the country.
I've traveled to almost every major city in our country and have spent considerable amounts of time in many of them (often up to several months at a time in some cities). I've seen solutions used elsewhere that could help our traffic troubles here. I've seen the median strips between highway lanes used for express rail service (with only a limited number of stops along the way so they would be quicker than standard commuter rail service). I have also seen median strips used for reversible express/toll travel lanes (again with only a limited number of entrance/exit points), similar to the reversible lane known as "the zipper lane" between Boston and Braintree. Since the governments of Massachusetts and New Hampshire already own or control the median strips and the land between the lanes, perhaps they can look into using them for similar solutions. Yes, they would require money to be spent for construction, but they can pay for themselves over time. I know I would not mind dropping a buck into a basket if it is going to get me in or out of Boston more quickly.
DAVID S. STRUFFOLINO
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Orlando, 2005
Went to Orlando two weekends ago with some friends. It rained every day and it was hot as hell. I mean DISGUSTINGLY hot! REALLY nasty ugly weather! But I didn't let that spoil my fun riding the rides...
Went on Mission: Space at Epcot (where a four year old died earlier this week). That was AWESOME! They make you feel like you're really on a rocket blasting off into space. A VERY intense ride. I was a lil lightheaded when it was done and I was white as a ghost, but it was well worth the experience!
Over at Disney-MGM, the Aerosmith Rock 'n' Roller Coaster kept breaking down so we never got a chance to go on that on this trip, which really pissed me off because I love that ride and it's one of two things I look forward to at that park. But at least the Tower Of Terror was working perfectly.
Up at Universal and Islands Of Adventure, the sign outside of the Hulk rollercoaster said it was a 30 minute wait. More than an hour later while we were still waiting in line, they finally made an announcement that the ride was broken, so that turned out to be a huge waste of time. We tried a few unfamiliar attractions -- things with short wait-times because of all the time we wasted at the Hulk, and they turned out to be great fun. There was a Poseidon thing in which we walked thru a cool refreshing tunnel of spinning water and there were a lot of special effects, a Shrek 3D movie that has added effects like blowing wind and water droplets and hydraulic chairs to enhance the realism, and a new ride based on the Mummy movie that is kind of like a rollercoaster except that it stops and drops and goes backwards and twists and turns. Some of the old Universal standards like Twister are still cool -- they do a great job of making you feel like you're standing in front of a real live tornado, and the Back To The Future ride is still fun but it's starting to show its age a little. The Earthquake ride is still a great idea, but I think they need to update it a bit.
I went to two new Hooters which bring my total up to 68 now (you can read more about Hooters here). There were two more that I wanted to go to in the area but I couldn't use the rental car that three of us split (and the ones with the car were avoiding the other two of us all weekend, so the car became kind of a waste for me) and I spent way too much money on taxis just getting around the amusement parks.
I wasn't a fan of the Disney resort bus system because buses were almost always late and a few times we were given misinformation by bus drivers that resulted in us going places we did not want to go. There was one exceptional bus driver, however, who told me about a huge pool party at a hotel down the street from ours one day, although I didn't enjoy it as much I would have if I didn't have blisters from walking around in the rain all weekend, LOL!
I didn't take a lot of pics but I do have some and I will add them soon.
Went on Mission: Space at Epcot (where a four year old died earlier this week). That was AWESOME! They make you feel like you're really on a rocket blasting off into space. A VERY intense ride. I was a lil lightheaded when it was done and I was white as a ghost, but it was well worth the experience!
Over at Disney-MGM, the Aerosmith Rock 'n' Roller Coaster kept breaking down so we never got a chance to go on that on this trip, which really pissed me off because I love that ride and it's one of two things I look forward to at that park. But at least the Tower Of Terror was working perfectly.
Up at Universal and Islands Of Adventure, the sign outside of the Hulk rollercoaster said it was a 30 minute wait. More than an hour later while we were still waiting in line, they finally made an announcement that the ride was broken, so that turned out to be a huge waste of time. We tried a few unfamiliar attractions -- things with short wait-times because of all the time we wasted at the Hulk, and they turned out to be great fun. There was a Poseidon thing in which we walked thru a cool refreshing tunnel of spinning water and there were a lot of special effects, a Shrek 3D movie that has added effects like blowing wind and water droplets and hydraulic chairs to enhance the realism, and a new ride based on the Mummy movie that is kind of like a rollercoaster except that it stops and drops and goes backwards and twists and turns. Some of the old Universal standards like Twister are still cool -- they do a great job of making you feel like you're standing in front of a real live tornado, and the Back To The Future ride is still fun but it's starting to show its age a little. The Earthquake ride is still a great idea, but I think they need to update it a bit.
I went to two new Hooters which bring my total up to 68 now (you can read more about Hooters here). There were two more that I wanted to go to in the area but I couldn't use the rental car that three of us split (and the ones with the car were avoiding the other two of us all weekend, so the car became kind of a waste for me) and I spent way too much money on taxis just getting around the amusement parks.
I wasn't a fan of the Disney resort bus system because buses were almost always late and a few times we were given misinformation by bus drivers that resulted in us going places we did not want to go. There was one exceptional bus driver, however, who told me about a huge pool party at a hotel down the street from ours one day, although I didn't enjoy it as much I would have if I didn't have blisters from walking around in the rain all weekend, LOL!
I didn't take a lot of pics but I do have some and I will add them soon.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
New York Times
Several weeks ago I responded to something I saw somewhere and wound up getting in touch with a reporter from the New York Times. We exchanged a bunch of emails and a few phone calls and they even sent a photographer to take pics of me (the photographer has done portraits of celebrities and politicians and has had many magazine covers).
Yesterday the reporter said that they liked my pic but then I got this from her this morning:
------------------------------------
Hi, the story about people making fake cell phone calls is in the paper today, you can find it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/14/fashion/thursdaystyles/14cell.html?
I'm so sorry that it looks like your quote was cut at the last minute. I really don't know why that happened, last version I saw it was still in there. But thanks so much for participating, and I hope you still like the story...
best
Amy
------------------------------------
Oh well.
Yesterday the reporter said that they liked my pic but then I got this from her this morning:
------------------------------------
Hi, the story about people making fake cell phone calls is in the paper today, you can find it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/14/fashion/thursdaystyles/14cell.html?
I'm so sorry that it looks like your quote was cut at the last minute. I really don't know why that happened, last version I saw it was still in there. But thanks so much for participating, and I hope you still like the story...
best
Amy
------------------------------------
Oh well.
New York Times
Several weeks ago I responded to something I saw somewhere and wound up getting in touch with a reporter from the New York Times. We exchanged a bunch of emails and a few phone calls and they even sent a photographer to take pics of me (the photographer has done portraits of celebrities and politicians and has had many magazine covers).
Yesterday the reporter said that they liked my pic but then I got this from her this morning:
------------------------------------
Hi, the story about people making fake cell phone calls is in the paper today, you can find it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/14/fashion/thursdaystyles/14cell.html?
I'm so sorry that it looks like your quote was cut at the last minute. I really don't know why that happened, last version I saw it was still in there. But thanks so much for participating, and I hope you still like the story...
best
Amy
------------------------------------
Oh well.
Yesterday the reporter said that they liked my pic but then I got this from her this morning:
------------------------------------
Hi, the story about people making fake cell phone calls is in the paper today, you can find it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/14/fashion/thursdaystyles/14cell.html?
I'm so sorry that it looks like your quote was cut at the last minute. I really don't know why that happened, last version I saw it was still in there. But thanks so much for participating, and I hope you still like the story...
best
Amy
------------------------------------
Oh well.
Friday, March 04, 2005
Be Cool
Chris and I went to see the movie Be Cool, the sequel to Get Shorty this morning. We knew from the start not to expect the greatest movie ever, but it had its moments.
We had to see it no matter what because we are IN in the movie. We were at the Aerosmith concert that they showed in the movie (you can read more about that concert and see pics I took from the concert here). Despite what they tell us in the movie, the concert was not at the Staples Center in L.A. -- it was at the Tweeter Center last year, so it was kinda stupid of them to show such wide-angle shots because you can easily see that it's an outdoor amphitheater rather than the indoor arena as they were telling us. But anyway, there were at least 16-18 times when Chris and I were on the silver screen in crowd-shots somewhere -- we were right next to a part of the stage so we were in a prime location -- however all the crowd scenes went by too fast to see us without using a Pause button or a Slo-mo button.
But enough about us. There were some other good parts elsewhere in the movie. I especially liked the performances by the guy from OutKast and the wrestler known as "The Rock" -- and this opinion is coming from someone who completely dislikes wrestling and hates "The Rock" in particular! But I think he did a really good acting job because his character was nothing like how you'd expect a wrestler to be...verrrrry gay. It was amusing to me that big-headed maniacs like Fred Durst (from Limp Bizkit) and Gene Simmons (from Kiss) were both extras who had no lines and less than like 10 seconds of screen time combined.
One thing that seems kind of weird to me is that a character in the movie who was beaten up with a baseball bat died in real life almost exactly a year before the movie was released -- the movie came out literally four days away from the one-year anniversary of the day he died. If I were part of his family, I think I'd be kinda pissed at watching him get beaten up on screen while that anniversary date was fresh on my mind.
All in all, I'd give it about a C grade. Or maybe a C+ because Chris and I were in it with our favorite rock band. :) Chris may not be so generous with his grade because he read the book and found lots of flaws between the book and the movie.
We had to see it no matter what because we are IN in the movie. We were at the Aerosmith concert that they showed in the movie (you can read more about that concert and see pics I took from the concert here). Despite what they tell us in the movie, the concert was not at the Staples Center in L.A. -- it was at the Tweeter Center last year, so it was kinda stupid of them to show such wide-angle shots because you can easily see that it's an outdoor amphitheater rather than the indoor arena as they were telling us. But anyway, there were at least 16-18 times when Chris and I were on the silver screen in crowd-shots somewhere -- we were right next to a part of the stage so we were in a prime location -- however all the crowd scenes went by too fast to see us without using a Pause button or a Slo-mo button.
But enough about us. There were some other good parts elsewhere in the movie. I especially liked the performances by the guy from OutKast and the wrestler known as "The Rock" -- and this opinion is coming from someone who completely dislikes wrestling and hates "The Rock" in particular! But I think he did a really good acting job because his character was nothing like how you'd expect a wrestler to be...verrrrry gay. It was amusing to me that big-headed maniacs like Fred Durst (from Limp Bizkit) and Gene Simmons (from Kiss) were both extras who had no lines and less than like 10 seconds of screen time combined.
One thing that seems kind of weird to me is that a character in the movie who was beaten up with a baseball bat died in real life almost exactly a year before the movie was released -- the movie came out literally four days away from the one-year anniversary of the day he died. If I were part of his family, I think I'd be kinda pissed at watching him get beaten up on screen while that anniversary date was fresh on my mind.
All in all, I'd give it about a C grade. Or maybe a C+ because Chris and I were in it with our favorite rock band. :) Chris may not be so generous with his grade because he read the book and found lots of flaws between the book and the movie.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Better than nothing
I went to Mohegan Sun and won about $380-ish before I gave some of it back. I guess I felt badly for the Indians and didn't want to take too much money away from them? hahaha!
I started off winning $80 on the big (upright) wheel that they spin and you bet on. I think they call it the Money Wheel or Wheel Of Fortune -- many casinos have different names for it.
After that was about a $50 win on roulette which was quickly followed by a $180 win on roulette! This part got kind of weird because I knew that I had won, but couldn't really tell how much...when I saw them push nine big stacks of chips at me, I started to get excited and pretty much forgot how to do any math at that point! I had to call my friend Matty over to count them for me because I couldn't do it myself because I was too excited at seeing all those stacks of chips coming my way (oh and by the way, I won this by betting his birthday date...I didn't get shit by betting my own birthday or my parents' birthdays, but Matty's was a winner).
After that was a few hands of blackjack and a few small wins but nothing big. Then we went to the nickel slots and I won another $120.
When all was said and done, after eating and drinking and putting gas in my car, by the time I got home around 6:00 Sunday morning I still had $200 more than what I started out with...better than nothing!
I started off winning $80 on the big (upright) wheel that they spin and you bet on. I think they call it the Money Wheel or Wheel Of Fortune -- many casinos have different names for it.
After that was about a $50 win on roulette which was quickly followed by a $180 win on roulette! This part got kind of weird because I knew that I had won, but couldn't really tell how much...when I saw them push nine big stacks of chips at me, I started to get excited and pretty much forgot how to do any math at that point! I had to call my friend Matty over to count them for me because I couldn't do it myself because I was too excited at seeing all those stacks of chips coming my way (oh and by the way, I won this by betting his birthday date...I didn't get shit by betting my own birthday or my parents' birthdays, but Matty's was a winner).
After that was a few hands of blackjack and a few small wins but nothing big. Then we went to the nickel slots and I won another $120.
When all was said and done, after eating and drinking and putting gas in my car, by the time I got home around 6:00 Sunday morning I still had $200 more than what I started out with...better than nothing!
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Cabo Wabo, 2005
Just got back from Cabo San Lucas again. Wow! Shitty flights both ways and horrible airport experiences in Cabo and Houston, but it was a great trip overall.
This is a view from the lobby of the hotel. See that little hut-like thing in the middle of the pic between the two pools? That's a swim-up bar where we spent tons of time. Gotta love those two-for-one drinks during happy hour!
There are a lot of fun stories to tell but since they're at least PG-13 rated, I won't get into them here just yet -- what happens in Cabo, stays in Cabo... ;-) But I will say that we met several really nice people down there. In particular, we met a cool couple from San Diego at the hotel. It turns out that Rob and this guy both went to the same college at the same time in Massachusetts, but they never knew each other back then. We went bar-hopping with them a couple of nights to El Squid Roe, the Cabo Wabo Cantina, and a few other places including the World's Smallest Bar where there are only six bar stools -- my house has a bathroom bigger than this place, but it's quite cool and it has a full bar.
Here are the pics from this year's trip and here are some pics from last year.
If you want to read about Cabo San Lucas in general, there is a good article at loscabosnights.com.
Oh, I almost forgot...one bad story to tell: one night we met some people at a bar at the marina. They had been eating a pizza and there were two slices leftover. After a while, the waiter came to clear off the table. Not even a minute later, I saw the waiter bring a slice of pizza to the table next to us. It looked like the same pepperoni/black olive pizza that he just took off of our table! To try to make a long story short, Karin (who speaks perfectly fluent Spanish) confronted the waiter about it and he admitted to it -- he took leftover pizza from us and served it to someone else!
This is a view from the lobby of the hotel. See that little hut-like thing in the middle of the pic between the two pools? That's a swim-up bar where we spent tons of time. Gotta love those two-for-one drinks during happy hour!
There are a lot of fun stories to tell but since they're at least PG-13 rated, I won't get into them here just yet -- what happens in Cabo, stays in Cabo... ;-) But I will say that we met several really nice people down there. In particular, we met a cool couple from San Diego at the hotel. It turns out that Rob and this guy both went to the same college at the same time in Massachusetts, but they never knew each other back then. We went bar-hopping with them a couple of nights to El Squid Roe, the Cabo Wabo Cantina, and a few other places including the World's Smallest Bar where there are only six bar stools -- my house has a bathroom bigger than this place, but it's quite cool and it has a full bar.
Here are the pics from this year's trip and here are some pics from last year.
If you want to read about Cabo San Lucas in general, there is a good article at loscabosnights.com.
Oh, I almost forgot...one bad story to tell: one night we met some people at a bar at the marina. They had been eating a pizza and there were two slices leftover. After a while, the waiter came to clear off the table. Not even a minute later, I saw the waiter bring a slice of pizza to the table next to us. It looked like the same pepperoni/black olive pizza that he just took off of our table! To try to make a long story short, Karin (who speaks perfectly fluent Spanish) confronted the waiter about it and he admitted to it -- he took leftover pizza from us and served it to someone else!
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Happy 2005. It pays to be a girl.
A few weeks ago, Shannon planted a seed... She said she's never been to NYC for New Year's Eve and since she is temporarily living near Boston now, she was thinking of going. I went there 10 years ago and had a great time despite miserable freezing rain, so I was due to go back.
She picked me up from work and we sped down to New Haven, CT to catch the train to NYC. Everything went well...that is, until we got to NYC. Once in Manhattan, it became increasingly obvious that it was going to be tough to get a good viewing spot. 42nd Street was gridlocked with pedestrians starting before 6th Ave. We fought our way thru the crowds up 6th Ave. towards 45th Street. Every street heading to Times Square was completely closed. I asked a cop where we can go to get into where the action is and he said to go up to 59th Street and they'd let us in there. We hustled our way up 14 more blocks only to find that we had become fenced in at Central Park. Completely trapped! They had successfully corralled us -- like a herd of cattle into a holding pen, and there was no way out except to go back where we came from.
By this point it was less than 15 minutes till midnight so it wasn't looking very good. We backtracked down 6th Ave., looking for spots where we might be able to sneak past the police barricades. Nothing. NYPD did a damn good job of keeping everything blocked off so no one can get thru. With about six minutes left before the ball dropped, Shannon went up to one of the cops as a last-ditch effort. Next thing I know, I see her inside of the barricade and running towards Broadway! She managed to pull-off a, "Hi, I'm a tourist from Ohio...please let me in?", and they did!! So now it was MY turn... I went up to the same cop and said, "I'm with that girl from Ohio who you just let in". He took one look at me and said, "get out!". I said, "no, really...that girl from Ohio who you just let in...we're together". He again told me to get out. I tried again..."officer, you don't seem to understand...I am with that girl from Ohio...we came here together...if I can't get in, we'll be separated and won't find each other afterwards". He didn't wanna hear anything from me. Just didn't care.
We wound up finding each other around 12:30 and by that point, they had opened up some of the barricades so I was finally able to get into Times Square. We thought about trying to get into some of the pubs and bars but we were mindful of the time and the train schedule so we headed back down to Grand Central Station instead.
On the way home from the New Haven train station, we stopped off at Mohegan Sun, thinking we can get a bite to eat somewhere in there. But those dumb-asses only had ONE restaurant open! The line waiting to get in was about 20 minutes long. You'd think that (A) being a weekend, they might have more than just one place open at like 5AM, and (B) it's a popular holiday for night-owls and drunks who may want to eat!! But nooooooo...only that one place open. Figures.
When I woke up New Year's Day, I watched the festivities on TV (recorded from the night before). A million people because it was the 100th anniversary of the whole ball-dropping thing and the weather was nice. Maybe I'll try again in 10 more years.
Here are the pics...they're not very good because they were taken with my cell phone.
She picked me up from work and we sped down to New Haven, CT to catch the train to NYC. Everything went well...that is, until we got to NYC. Once in Manhattan, it became increasingly obvious that it was going to be tough to get a good viewing spot. 42nd Street was gridlocked with pedestrians starting before 6th Ave. We fought our way thru the crowds up 6th Ave. towards 45th Street. Every street heading to Times Square was completely closed. I asked a cop where we can go to get into where the action is and he said to go up to 59th Street and they'd let us in there. We hustled our way up 14 more blocks only to find that we had become fenced in at Central Park. Completely trapped! They had successfully corralled us -- like a herd of cattle into a holding pen, and there was no way out except to go back where we came from.
By this point it was less than 15 minutes till midnight so it wasn't looking very good. We backtracked down 6th Ave., looking for spots where we might be able to sneak past the police barricades. Nothing. NYPD did a damn good job of keeping everything blocked off so no one can get thru. With about six minutes left before the ball dropped, Shannon went up to one of the cops as a last-ditch effort. Next thing I know, I see her inside of the barricade and running towards Broadway! She managed to pull-off a, "Hi, I'm a tourist from Ohio...please let me in?", and they did!! So now it was MY turn... I went up to the same cop and said, "I'm with that girl from Ohio who you just let in". He took one look at me and said, "get out!". I said, "no, really...that girl from Ohio who you just let in...we're together". He again told me to get out. I tried again..."officer, you don't seem to understand...I am with that girl from Ohio...we came here together...if I can't get in, we'll be separated and won't find each other afterwards". He didn't wanna hear anything from me. Just didn't care.
We wound up finding each other around 12:30 and by that point, they had opened up some of the barricades so I was finally able to get into Times Square. We thought about trying to get into some of the pubs and bars but we were mindful of the time and the train schedule so we headed back down to Grand Central Station instead.
On the way home from the New Haven train station, we stopped off at Mohegan Sun, thinking we can get a bite to eat somewhere in there. But those dumb-asses only had ONE restaurant open! The line waiting to get in was about 20 minutes long. You'd think that (A) being a weekend, they might have more than just one place open at like 5AM, and (B) it's a popular holiday for night-owls and drunks who may want to eat!! But nooooooo...only that one place open. Figures.
When I woke up New Year's Day, I watched the festivities on TV (recorded from the night before). A million people because it was the 100th anniversary of the whole ball-dropping thing and the weather was nice. Maybe I'll try again in 10 more years.
Here are the pics...they're not very good because they were taken with my cell phone.
Monday, December 06, 2004
Breaking a record
My buddy Chris and I participated in the breaking of a world record last week:
- 'Jingling all the way' to a world record
- Record-setting Carolers
- video clip from New England Cable News channel (at about 1:10 into this one, you can see me from the chin down, standing behind the woman in the Santa hat whom they are interviewing)
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Hooters #66
A new Hooters opened about 10 minutes from my house so as of this month, I have been to 66 different Hooters in the USA. Now, that's not to say that I've been to Hooters 66 times...no no no...these 66 are different Hooters locations where I have been at least one time each.
A little background on some of my previous Hooters visits:
In 2003 Hooters ran a contest where anyone who visited 20 different Hooters in one year would win a party. They gave out little "passport" books that we had to have stamped at each of the different locations we went to.
Why have I done all this? Well, the last line of the menu at Hooters pretty much sums it all up: "Hooters makes you happy". :)
Check out some Hooters pics here.
A little background on some of my previous Hooters visits:
- 5 were in the Denver area in 2000
- 11 were in South Florida in 2001
- 7 were around the Houston area in a three-day trip in 2002
- my 45th was the Grand Opening of their Sugarland, TX location...I was served their very first beer on Opening Day
- I was at the Grand Opening of the Cape Cod Hooters in 2003
- 9 locations were during a four-day trip to southern California in 2003
In 2003 Hooters ran a contest where anyone who visited 20 different Hooters in one year would win a party. They gave out little "passport" books that we had to have stamped at each of the different locations we went to.
Why have I done all this? Well, the last line of the menu at Hooters pretty much sums it all up: "Hooters makes you happy". :)
Check out some Hooters pics here.
Monday, October 04, 2004
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
You know the TV show Whose Line Is It Anway? Shannon and I went to see two of the guys from perform live. Damn funny!
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Aerosmith, 2004
Chris and I went to see Aerosmith and Cheap Trick at the Tweeter Center. Big surprise, huh?!? hahaha
We had a couple of the best seats in the house! Literally. We were barely 10 rows back from the main stage and right up against the runway/catwalk stage (whatever you wanna call it) that extended out into the audience from the main stage. Our seats were better than football star Doug Flutie who was about 10-15 rows behind us. :)
I took some really good pics with my camera-phone, one of which was published in the magazine Entertainment Weekly. You can see those pics I took along with pics that someone in front of us took here -- since they had a real camera, their pics are obviously much better than mine (but they didn't get any of theirs in a magazine, so there!!).
An extra cool thing about this show is that they were filming a scene for an upcoming movie that will be the sequel to the movie "Get Shorty". Since our seats were so great, I'm sure we'll be in a frame or two in the movie so I can't wait for the DVD to come out.
We had a couple of the best seats in the house! Literally. We were barely 10 rows back from the main stage and right up against the runway/catwalk stage (whatever you wanna call it) that extended out into the audience from the main stage. Our seats were better than football star Doug Flutie who was about 10-15 rows behind us. :)
I took some really good pics with my camera-phone, one of which was published in the magazine Entertainment Weekly. You can see those pics I took along with pics that someone in front of us took here -- since they had a real camera, their pics are obviously much better than mine (but they didn't get any of theirs in a magazine, so there!!).
An extra cool thing about this show is that they were filming a scene for an upcoming movie that will be the sequel to the movie "Get Shorty". Since our seats were so great, I'm sure we'll be in a frame or two in the movie so I can't wait for the DVD to come out.
Saturday, March 20, 2004
Bahamas, 2004
Lots of celebs on this quickie trip. James Caan has a son who is also an actor (who knew...?!?). He was staying at our hotel, in town filming a movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378109/). We saw Don Henley at the Atlantis casino. I missed it but Britney Spears was there the night before I got there as was country music guy Toby Keith. The owners of many of the Dallas sports teams were there, too (one of my buddies works for one of them and that's the reason I went on this trip).
The first day I got there, I was walking thru Senor Frog's (a bar like the Carlos N' Charlie's found in Mexico) and heard them playing pieces of some songs, followed by people shouting out the titles. After about a minute of this and hearing these Springsteen and Billy Idol riffs, I realized they were playing a "Name That Tune" game. Kewl! These people had NO idea what they were getting when I walked into the room!! Me + Classic Rock + Name That Tune? Forgettaboutit! Might as well send everyone else home. :)
Within the next 30 seconds, I quickly advanced to third place, jumped ahead to tie for first, and then held onto first for a long time. I would have won the entire contest if I didn't space out at the beginning of the last song. Unfortunately, the reason I spaced out was from consuming a little too much alcohol a little too quickly. Did I mention that the 'prize' for each correct answer was a bottle of something green poured into your mouth until it overflows? And upon correctly answering the bonus questions like "according to the song, The Heart Of Rock And Roll is located in which city?" and "how do you spell the 'Crue' in Motley Crue?", this 'prize' was doubled. Actually in the case of the last question, it was a triple shot 'prize' because the MC liked that I included the umlauts over the U. :)
I didn't go back to that place until two days later. This time was for lunch. They weren't playing any games but the MC was working the crowd to get people dancing and singing and stuff. Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" came on and the MC was walking around the room sticking the mic in front of people to have them sing "whoa, we're half-way there" from the chorus of the song. The MC walked past my table and said "hey, I remember you...you know all these songs, don't you", and then had me sing a full verse and chorus of the song. It wasn't a Karaoke thing -- there was no screen to read lyrics from -- so I got about a half bottle of that green stuff poured down my throat for this. :) I guess I must have done something right because this MC had to have seen at least several hundred people in the two days since he'd last seen me, but he remembered me right away. Like I said, they had no idea what they were getting when I walked into the joint... :)
The first day I got there, I was walking thru Senor Frog's (a bar like the Carlos N' Charlie's found in Mexico) and heard them playing pieces of some songs, followed by people shouting out the titles. After about a minute of this and hearing these Springsteen and Billy Idol riffs, I realized they were playing a "Name That Tune" game. Kewl! These people had NO idea what they were getting when I walked into the room!! Me + Classic Rock + Name That Tune? Forgettaboutit! Might as well send everyone else home. :)
Within the next 30 seconds, I quickly advanced to third place, jumped ahead to tie for first, and then held onto first for a long time. I would have won the entire contest if I didn't space out at the beginning of the last song. Unfortunately, the reason I spaced out was from consuming a little too much alcohol a little too quickly. Did I mention that the 'prize' for each correct answer was a bottle of something green poured into your mouth until it overflows? And upon correctly answering the bonus questions like "according to the song, The Heart Of Rock And Roll is located in which city?" and "how do you spell the 'Crue' in Motley Crue?", this 'prize' was doubled. Actually in the case of the last question, it was a triple shot 'prize' because the MC liked that I included the umlauts over the U. :)
I didn't go back to that place until two days later. This time was for lunch. They weren't playing any games but the MC was working the crowd to get people dancing and singing and stuff. Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" came on and the MC was walking around the room sticking the mic in front of people to have them sing "whoa, we're half-way there" from the chorus of the song. The MC walked past my table and said "hey, I remember you...you know all these songs, don't you", and then had me sing a full verse and chorus of the song. It wasn't a Karaoke thing -- there was no screen to read lyrics from -- so I got about a half bottle of that green stuff poured down my throat for this. :) I guess I must have done something right because this MC had to have seen at least several hundred people in the two days since he'd last seen me, but he remembered me right away. Like I said, they had no idea what they were getting when I walked into the joint... :)
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Monday, October 13, 2003
Italy/Sicily
See our pics here. We saw all the tourist spots around Rome such as the Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, The Coliseum, and the Vatican. We also took a trip down the coast to Naples, Pompeii, and Sorrento.
We then spent a week at a villa in Sicily and checked out Palermo, Agrigento, Taormina, Mount Etna, and Trecastagni where my mom found some relatives that she never knew she had before.
We then spent a week at a villa in Sicily and checked out Palermo, Agrigento, Taormina, Mount Etna, and Trecastagni where my mom found some relatives that she never knew she had before.
(do a Google search if you want to find out more about the various sights and cities listed above)
The airline flight over there was horrible! I couldn't watch the movie because the headphone plug for my seat was broken. The overhead light for my seat did not work so I couldn't even read. And because I was in one of the last rows, they had run out of all the good meals and only had fish (which I don't eat). So I got pretty whiney and pissy about all of this. I mean, on a $1000 eight hour flight, I should at least be able to eat something or watch the damn movie! Most of the flight attendants didn't seem to give a shit, which pissed me off even more. But one of them could see I was upset and kept on giving me lots of alcohol which eventually put me to sleep so I finally left them alone.
We had mixed feelings about Rome. On one hand, the architecture and artwork were absolutely stunning! In every sense of the word. But on the other hand, Rome is WAY too overcrowded and noisy and somewhat dirty. Graffiti everywhere. Lots of litter.
Our hotel in Rome wasn't in a bad part of town but it was noisy and we had trouble sleeping because we had to keep our windows open because they don't use air conditioners and there was a bar across the street that didn't even open until sometime after midnight. Oh yeah, and because the streets are so overcrowded during the day, the only time they can pick up garbage is during the overnight hours...and everyone knows how much noise garbage trucks make!
The tour group operator left a bad taste in our mouths. For one thing, they literally left me at one of the stops! The whole group took off without me! Despite my family's pleading and begging the tourguide. But the tourguide insisted that she had a schedule to keep and they had to move on. RIDICULOUS!!!! They KNOW we're tourists so what did they expect, that I could find my way back all alone?!?!? I called the tourguide's office to try to explain that I was left behind, but they didn't speak any English and I only know like maybe 10 words of Italian so that was useless. To try to make a long story short, being the smart fella that I am, I figured there would be another tour coming thru at some point. So I waited and found the next tour group and told the tourguide what happened. He couldn't believe it so he took me as part of his group. I was separated from my family for the rest of the day but at least I knew that I would eventually wind up back at the tourguide's office.
There was also an incident involving a tourguide and a restaurant they selected for us that was part of a tour to Pompeii. It was a very nasty and ugly scene. It was first-come, first-served seating and we almost didn't get seated because some assholes stole our seats and we got into a little altercation with them. We then kept getting pushed around to different seats...it seemed that every seat we tried to sit in was wrong so we were beginning to get upset. When we finally found someplace to sit, we were almost not served anything -- it seems they were extorting us and wanted us to buy a bottle of wine (the food was included with the tour but beverages were not). Apparently, since we did not want to buy their wine, they did not want us to eat. By the time we got something to eat, almost everyone else was ready for desert so when we finally did start to eat, we were rushed and the waitstaff was reluctant to serve us. And the strolling musicians started to annoy us and get in our faces when we started to eat. After all the bullshit, we didn't want anyone bothering us by this point but they took offense that we wouldn't tip them so they would play for us; we just wanted to eat in peace by now, not be forced to pay for music we did not want to begin with. I know it's too late to make a long story short but we got into fights with a lot of people there because of the way we were mistreated.
But the trip wasn't all bad. Quite the contrary, actually. We saw some of the most beautiful and amazing things. Buildings and churches that are thousands of years old but look brand new. We were at places that we've read about and heard about in history such as the Coliseum. The Vatican's ceilings have such incredible and intricate works of art that I can't possibly put into words! You should look at the pics and see for yourself, although the pics don't even come close to seeing everything in person.
Sicily was all good. We hired a driver, Rosario, who took us all over the island and to many of the hotspots and to some of the best restaurants. I think the places I enjoyed the most were Taormina, Mount Etna, and Trecastagni. Taormina has what's left of an ancient amphitheater on top of a mountain next to the ocean overlooking the coast. The views are breathtaking! I really cannot say enough about it. If you look at the pics, you can see partially crumbled walls in the foreground, different sizes of hills and mountains in the mid-ground to the west, and the coastline down below in the background. I really wish the pics can be 3D so you can get a better idea of what I am trying to say.
Mount Etna was cool because it's an active volcano. You can see steam coming up thru the cracks here and there. You can look down into old inactive craters and even the active craters if you dare. In the pics you can see a lot of black soot and ash. What you can't really tell, however, is that some of the soot and ash is piled up for dozens and dozens of feet, thus making parts of the mountain slightly taller. For example, we were able to see where an eruption a few years ago completely buried the giftshops and restaurant -- we could see the difference between the old top of this part of the mountain compared to the new top by the different shades of soot and ash. I know that probably doesn't make much sense to you but trust me: it was interesting to see it in person.
Trecastagni was really special to my mom. Both of her parents were born there and she often heard stories about it but had never been there until now. And she got to meet her father's family that she never knew about before. We had nothing except for a photocopy of my grandfather's passport but our driver, Rosario, was able to find the family anyway. He was like a bloodhound tracking a scent! We started at Town Hall and got copies of my grandparents' Birth Certificates that had old addresses. When Town Hall closed for lunch, Rosario took us
walking around a park across the street and where he asked all the old-timers if they had ever heard of my grandparents or their former addresses. He also asked the Police chief and when Town Hall reopened after lunch, we went to talk to the town doctor. The doctor made a bunch of phone calls and next thing we know, we were told "ok, come with us", and he took us to a house a short distance away. This turned out to be the home of one of my grandfather's relatives and my grandparents stayed at that house when they visited the old country in the 1960's. When the she answered the door and we showed my grandfather's old passport pic, we were greeted with open arms and "oh, Cirino...si...si...". It was truly amazing that with only an old passport photocopy, we were able to find this family. Rosario was unbelievable! A few days earlier, he had tracked down some of Rita's family, too. But that was almost easy in comparison because Rita had an old letter with an address that Rosario was able to find, way out in the middle of nowhere up in some mountains. We were pretty impressed by that but then like I said, that turned out to be almost easy compared to finding my mom's family -- he had a LOT less to work with.
Sunday, April 13, 2003
St. Louis, Hollywood, Las Vegas, and The O.C. in 2003
In the Spring of 2003, I went to St. Louis for a few days and visited some Hooters. My 50th Hooters was across the river from St. Louis in Illinois.
Several weeks later I went on a weekend trip to Hollywood, Las Vegas, and Orange County. I stayed at the infamous West Hollywood Hyatt, which is nicknamed "The Riot House" because it is where rock bands of the 70's wreaked havoc and rode motorcycles up and down the hallways. Oh yeah, and I went to more Hooters.
I have more to say about this trip and I will add that later. You can read more about Hooters or see some pics here.
Several weeks later I went on a weekend trip to Hollywood, Las Vegas, and Orange County. I stayed at the infamous West Hollywood Hyatt, which is nicknamed "The Riot House" because it is where rock bands of the 70's wreaked havoc and rode motorcycles up and down the hallways. Oh yeah, and I went to more Hooters.
I have more to say about this trip and I will add that later. You can read more about Hooters or see some pics here.
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