I've read in a number of journals about getting old or I'm so old at 23 or whatever the case maybe. Old, my friends, is when your eldest child turns 16 as mine did this morning. The previously mentioned trip to NYC was the bulk of the birthday present, but my darling daughter is 16 officially today. The obligatory trip to the DMV is set for the end of next week. I was thinking about this when I stumbled across the photo below, 1991 when we were just at the beginning of something big (and my beard was mostly one color).

Happy Birthday, Siobhan from your basket case of a Dad

out of me.

There is a danger in ringtones my friends. Among my current ring tones is Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women 12 & 35." You know the song ...."Everybody Must Get Stoned..." That's me, got to be a little different. However, being a user of all EStrip has to offer, the post-its send a text to my cell phone and fire off a ringer to let me know I got mail.

No big deal, but last night round midnight, I shut the lights off and reclined in the silence. Outside was still, quiet inside as well. You could feel nice sleep getting ready to wrap you gently and then "EVERYBODY MUST GET STONED!" Nearly fell out of bed, groping for the phone, expecting to see a relative calling, turned out it was Guest telling me to "Be at the Party or ELSE!"

Fridays are tough with the kids and whatnot, but I'm workin on it. Saturday, however, I'm in, guest

I had my crappy lil camera with me last weekend in NYC and promptly forgot all about it. No great loss, since we all know what it looks like there. The bulk of (e:strip) seems to have some familarity. It didn't take me long to resume my almost twenty year old death stare for "don't fuck with me" walking. The following images were all we bothered with. The inside shots were attempts at the Natural History Museum. The whale is camera shy. The rest were some rooftop shots taken of Manhattan from where we were in Brooklyn, plus one nice one of my child saying bye to her new playground

Travel is good. Nothing a long weekend doing all the fun stuff in Manhattan and Brooklyn to guarantee a little renewal. Getting to see it again was a lot of fun. My daughter and I Jet Blue'ed it into Kennedy on Thursday night and met up with family at Sal's Pizzeria in Brooklyn for a snack.

Friday, I got to renew a long familar acquaintance with the stink that is Canal St & Chinatown. I can only imagine the fumes on a hot day. We meandered up there into SoHo, stopping at all the groovy places along the way (and there were many). Lunch at Two Boots Pizza was pretty awesome and we worked our way uptown. After cruising through midtown, we worked our way into Chelsea for a dinner with my older sister at Chelsea Restaurante. My sister is a minor celeb there as she's lived in the neighborhood for quite awhile and I think is also a pretty big tipper. You eat wonderfully there.

Saturday was more of the same. After being unabashed consumers on Friday, we tempered that a little with a trip to the Natural History Museum. Had to see the whale. The trip up town was marred by the whiniest cab driver I've ever had in NYC. All the street festivals going on had him crying the blues. Despite his pissing and moaning, it was kind of cool to sneak in behind Grand Central on our way uptown. I tried taking pictures of the "Whale" but I don't think they came out okay.

I've gotten kind of blase about celebrity sightings over the years, but my darling daughter was clearly taken sharing a row with Oprah, running into Richard Belzer on 43rd st, and having Teddy Geiger say excuse me to her as he went by at JFK yesterday.

The picture I wish I would have gotten was the gonga line of planes out the window yesterday. The tower had everybody doing a series of u turns to get to the big runway. At one point, you could see a series of 15 planes of all sizes jockeying for space, sort of fun and intimidating to see in the twilight. Guess I'm a dork that way.

A fine time, just what the doctor ordered.............

This is a little old, but after the past day or two at work, it made me laugh....enjoy

The Value of a Good Drink

"Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink
I feel shame. Then I look into the glass and think
about the workers in the vineyards and all of their hopes
and dreams .. If I didn't drink this wine, they might be out
of work and their dreams would be shattered.
Then I say to myself, "It is better that I drink this wine and let their
dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
~ Jack Handy
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may leave you wondering what the hell
happened to your bra and panties
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they
wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're
going to feel all day. "
~Frank Sinatra
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may create the illusion that you are tougher, smarter, faster and better looking than most people.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading."
~ Henny Youngman
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may lead you to think people are laughing WITH you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not."
~ Stephen Wright
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to think you can sing .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk,
we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin.
When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let's all
get drunk and go to heaven!"
~ Brian O'Rourke
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause pregnancy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
~ Benjamin Franklin
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol is a major factor in dancing like a retard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Without question, the greatest invention in the
history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the
wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does
not go nearly as well with pizza."
~ Dave Barry
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To some it's a six-pack, to me it's a Support Group. Salvation in a can!
~Dave Howell
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And saving the best for last, as explained by Cliff Clavin, of Cheers.
One afternoon at Cheers, Cliff Clavin was explaining the Buffalo Theory to his buddy Norm.
Here's how it went:
"Well ya see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers."
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you are whispering when you are not