That past month of so went by fast. Work has been so event heavy, even when I've had sometime to put thought to screen, it's taken a bit of making my mental remote control to stop to know what.

Got to celebrate my Dad's 76th birthday last Sunday between Zoo events last weekend. Given his triple bypass in the Spring, it was a good thing to kick back, yell at the Bills and be thankful. It also tempered my own guilt at not making it to Purchase for younger daughter's Family Day. The ex and her partner and number one son made the trek and repeated my spoilage from the end of September. Not a huge deal, but I felt a little low at having to work three different Zoo events over the two days. But, that too shall pass.

Sick of the election season already, wish we could just vote. Nobody is saying anything worth listening to, nobody is asking questions that matter, and nobody is answering them.

Got to check out Mike A's Lounge in the Lafayette last night with some old and new friends, liked it a lot.

I screwed my ankle in the early summer, bad pulled the muscles right behind my achilles and the good doctor folks said that takes time to recover from, patience being the best thing with nerves. While that has never been my strong suit, some of the women in my office give me the "You've been limping" for awhile. They never ask if it hurts, am I okay, that bit, so when I got the "You've been Limping..." schtick the other day, I finally groused, "Yeah, my doctor says I need two to three old bitties a day yelling at it for improvement." Shut em up it did. Apparently, could be as much as six months to totally get over it wasn't enough for the office moms.

The second date from two posts ago, didn't turn into a third....and so it goes.

On a long weekend in NYC, hanging on out my kid sister's place and taking in a Springsteen show in the Meadowlands as a mini vacay away from work till Tuesday.

Nice to get away, but as I left my car at my folks, you have to go through rituals, directions from my dad, spoken mostly for my mom to hear, my elder sister's now almost three year old sense of how to do the trains. I was relieved to sit back and enjoy the almost comedic relief of the Buffalo Airport.

I hadn't flown in a little over a year so things change a little. The lovely nuisance of tossing your belt into the security bins was a new one, but reassembling myself with much time to spare I found a few things very telling. At 9:30 in the morning, the faux Anchor Bar was buzzing and the place across the hall from them selling breakfast fare was empty.

Typical Buffalo...

I took Jet Blue to JFK, and despite all the speeches at my folks house...and the fact I've done this before, treated myself to a cab to my bro-in-law's office in midtown. We grabbed some lunch at a joint around the street, then he went back to work for a bit and I went to play. This is a bit of rarity for me. I think it's the first jaunt to New York where I haven't been part of a bigger undertaking in a long time. So, I enjoyed that while watching the cast of "Person of Interest" shoot a scene in Bryant Park last yesterday. Walking through Times Square, I got asked for directions twice, so I think my NY death stare gaze is working okay. The active parade of costumed characters seemed a little wrong. Although high fiving a smurf wasn't my only celebrity encounter yesterday. Briefly shared a cafe table with Joe Walsh from the Eagles which was both awkward and cool at the same time. After exchanging "You're Awesome, No, You're Awesomes" we went our ways.

Tonight, it's Bruce in the Meadowlands and tomorrow it's dinner with the daughter up at SUNY Purchase.

Nice breather.

A few random notes....

I think I am officially milestoned out for a bit. Just returned from a whirlwind tour to take my younger daughter to start school at Purchase College in White Plains. My younger sister was hired to teach acting in one of their conservatories for the fall semester so that makes that large task seem like less of a thing.

My older daughter got herself in Buff State starting last week and is doing well, but I think this means any serious vacations for me for the foreseeable future are a nice daydream.

Proud of em both, just tired to the point of not being tired.

Their younger brother is toughing in out with his first day of high school on Tuesday. He had orientation on thursday and it reminded me that I was officially comfortable with our estrip community and shared photos in 2006 which simultaneously seems like both yesterday and a thousand years ago.

So, that combined with Labor Day at the Zoo tomorrow, makes the weekend a bit of a wash. Psst....don't come tomorrow as the crowd will consist of 10000 people who normally wouldn't be there.....

Gonna spend the comp time in NYC catching a Daily Show taping and Springsteen concerts.

Got a second date with somebody this week, that's nice too.

So, guess the start of the school year is a bit of a blank slate, everybody is getting a fresh start. Maybe my mojo is here somewhere. The apartment isn't that big.....