it's sunny in philly no longer...

traveling on the bolt bus back/forth to philly to visit rach over the last eight months, i've been able to watch past episodes of "it's always sunny in philadelphia." it's become my favorite tv show of all time (until now that title belonged to my childhood fav "the six million dollar man"). i want to be a cast member. i want to hang out in the bar with the gang and sweet dee.

unfortunately i've now watched all the episodes. it's been a great way to avoid listening to the other bolt bus passengers snore or talk on their cell phones (or both).

i guess i'll have to find another show to watch...

here's a ludicrous blooper reel:



and for old times sake, i present colonel steve austin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoLs0V8T5AA

initial planning begins....

bought tickets to honduras this morning... a surprisingly affordable $430, with only short pitstops in miami.

here's the loose itinerary so far:
san pedro
copan (hacienda san lucas perhaps?)
parque nacional jeanette kawas
roatan (leaning towards blue bahia hotel)

ana's sister, vero, has kindly offered up her home to us for our stay in san pedro. nice!

just got fat at sabrina's...

just had a great meal at sabrina's cafe in the fairmount district of philly. decided on the jeuvos rancheros and turkey bacon. since it took 1/2 hour to get seated (the nerve!) the manager gave us a free appetizer for the table... a massive serving of french toast (the "stuffed challah french toast", to be specific), loaded with banana, walnuts and vanilla bean syrup...

now it's time to lay on couch and watch basketball.

the gloating sun...

in philly this lovely, yet frigid, sunny day. the sunlight is beaming through the windows... mocking me as i sit at rachel's desk, working away. very peaceful, although i'd prefer to be outside playing.

a new adventure...

my favorite time of the year is when we pick a new vacation spot so i can start obsessing and reading a shitload of stuff about it. this year's adventure (i'm fairly certain) will be honduras. seems like it'll be somewhat like the belize trip, but less developed and fewer tourists.

a mix of jungle, mayan ruins, monkeys, and then off to the bay islands and roatan for snorkeling and scuba diving.

looking forward to swimming around with all of these cool things...

thanks for the extra cash, mr. douchebag!

my client, whom i'll refer to as mr. douchebag here, has been late to pay our monthly invoice for the seven thousandth time. this time it's 22 days late and counting so i gave him the obligatory nudge today. he promised he'd get to it by the end o' the day. so several hours later i received a note from him questioning my numbers (the nerve!!!). he thought they were on the high side. so i begrudgingly checked my numbers again, and lo and behold i was wrong... i was actually SHORT by around $13K!!!! i apparently forgot to add an entire campaign's worth of calls to my query when i created the original invoice. what the fuck!!!

anyway, i just sent the new, higher invoice to mr. douchebag. i can't imagine he'll be too happy about it.

but F him, he's the one that was late. lucky for me that he complained about it, or i never would have found the error!

newt for prez...

the one with the clown and one with the nude guy sawing(wtf?) are my favs of newt as he proudly announces his exploratory campaign for el presidente...

http://newtinfrontofstockphotos.tumblr.com/

will the real p.d.d. please stand up...

rachel and i went to twenty manning grill last night for some nibbles. as we waited at the bar for our table, we had a couple margaritas, one of which was their specialty, a granita margarita... very good.

after our drinks i handed the bartender my credit card... she looked at it and said "was a relative of yours here a few minutes ago?" i said "no, why?" and she said "because another guy named peter deluca was just standing at that same spot a few minutes and ordered drinks." wha wha whaaaaat?

i really wish i had been there a few minutes earlier so i could have met my doppelganger.

Incontincence Update...

According to an interesting email I just received that was sent to my spam folder... "Mesh Patches used to fix Incontinence are Recalled."

Won't be too long before email messages like that actually make me interested enough to read them thoroughly...

the big push...

my subway ride was its usual horrid event. i smushed my way on at bedford, then the announcer said the train would be bypassing union square (my stop) and 6th avenue. instead of heading all the way to 8th avenue and getting on the eastbound L, i decided to get off at 3rd. it's raining today in the big rotten apple but i had my trusty umbrella. well, moments after exiting the subway on 3rd, three of the support beams(?) popped and i had to throw the umbrella in the nearest garbage can. i walked the remaining four blocks to work in the drizzling rain.

all in all the usual nightmare. from the crowd standpoint, i still have never seen anything as bad as the subways in japan.

happy ides of march...

why isn't this a federal holiday?

rest in peace, joe morello...

one of my favorite drummers of all time was joe morello, who passed away saturday at the age of 82. morello created the amazing rhythm for dave brubeck's greatest songs, including his opus "take five."

i had the privilege of seeing morello and brubeck at the new orleans jazz festival about 13 years ago. they weren't on one of the main stages -- those were reserved for the horrid dave matthews and other ludicrous popinjays of that ilk -- but the crowd for brubeck was huge, regardless. unfortunately their sax man paul desmond had died several years before that, but seeing morello and brubeck was a thrill.

here's morello in action on one of my favorite jazz tunes, "three to get ready." i persuaded rachel to learn how to play this one...

come armageddon, come...

i absolutely loathe sundays. i have for as long as i can remember. i don't even consider sunday to be part of the weekend. to me, the word "weekend" is all about fun, relaxation and a mind free from anxiety. i've always felt weekends are really only one day long.

each sunday around 6pm the anxiety starts building and i begin sinking into a depression. one that lasts until about noon the next day.

it's notably worse this particular sunday as i've just returned from sunny naples, florida to the cold grey skies of nyc. thankfully every day is not like sunday.

rain, rain, and then more rain...

lucky i'm working all day cuz it's been raining all day here. when it rains in florida it's as if a hurricane is hitting. and then, typically, 10 minutes later it stops. but today, after the deluge at 9am, it rained continuously until right about now.

the rain didn't stop the pool cleaner though, and i watched him do his thing from my makeshift office at the kitchen table.

i was going to go for a run, but now it looks like i'll just kick back with a corona (light).

black bones are the original bones...

interesting story about the origin of man... we all knew (didn't we?) that man originated from Africa but i think it's very cool that they can determine a more precise point of origin...

what's more interesting, though, is the photo they selected for the story. what in the world is this guy smoking?!

the title of this post references, of course, lyrics from this gem by the Stone Roses.

So why no stack for black on a radio station in this, the city?
Been going on so long, level on the line, I'm a leaf on the vine of time
Black bones are the original bones
And so this the whole wide world should know, y'all
I came to sing this song in your city...

don't eat the grouper...

we went to a fish shack last night called Randy's Fish Market. the first thing listed the menu was grouper. the florida gulf is known for grouper. so imagine my surprise when i read an addendum to the menu advising patrons to not eat the grouper. what's more, the waiter also suggested we try some of the other fish on the menu. apparently grouper has been over-fished in the gulf for far too many years and there's a scarcity now. so why on earth does the restaurant still accept it daily from local fisherman and still serve it!?!

anyway, i went with the triple tail instead. it was just ok. i guess that species should be happy it's not as delicious as grouper.

poolside...

woke up at 9am. made coffee. drank coffee by pool. went for four mile run. waved back at smiling neighborhood folk (yes, they wave and smile at you here, unlike cold and vulgar nyc). back to house, exhausted (as i'm out of shape). showered. took short nap while watching b'ball game. back outside to pool to eat lunch.

nary a smell of urine or garbage anywhere.

fake vacation is off to a great start. beach tomorrow!

slave to routine...

exit apartment and feel chill of 30 degree weather: check
walk to subway through litter strewn brooklyn streets: check
squeeze into subway and get pushed by horrid, unapologetic passengers: check
arrive at office and prepare to deal with inept clients for 10 straight hours: check

oh well, i can at least look forward to the flight to naples tonight!!!!

Water can be found in you...

We have a water cooler in our little office and i often drink 500 little cups a day (in addition to my standard six cups o' coffee per day). The repercussions? Well, today I went to the bathroom so many times that my co-workers asked where the F I kept going. I pointed to the water cooler and the noticeable dent I had made in it today.

Reminds me of this gem from the unknown Swedish band Eggstone (listen to the incredibly ludicrous lyrics)...