Anniversaries and New Beginnings

Well, since today is August 28th, I wanted to send a special greeting to my lovely wife, Karyn. Happy 2nd Anniversary! She is my best friend and the love of my life - the Sally to my Harry, the Yin to my Yang, the Jlo to my Chris Judd, I mean, wait, Ben Afleck, wait no not that one, Oh, Marc Anthony. :-) In all seriousness, I love you Karyn and I am looking forward to many, many more anniversaries! (For those who are interested, we are going to Pizzeria Paradiso tonight to celebrate since we had really good Italian pizza on our Italian honeymoon. We always have heard that it is the best pizza in Washington, stay tuned!)

Of course, I also want to thank our friends and family for helping us reach this day....Thanks!

Now, another momentous event took place yesterday, August 27th... My adorable, brilliant, little 5 year old niece Lucy, started Kindergarten at Lucy Barnsley Elementary (Alma mater of Aunt Karen A. Mann and Unca Bunca - aka Uncle Howie). Click on the picture to the right to see pictures of her first day....

Thar He Blows!

Another summer, another hurricane season begins. So as I was watching the endless hurricane coverage of Hurricane Dean, I realized that our real-live hurricane media access has increased threefold since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Now it seems that the weather reporters need to actually be in the hurricane to adequately pass the news onto America.

Why? I find the fact that Al Roker was in Chetumal, Mexico earlier this week was completely idiotic. And if I was Mrs. Roker, I would be absolutely appalled. I mean, he isn't a journalist who covers wars like the British reporter who has been in Baghdad for the better part of this century. But the problem is that the networks believe that this is way to great ratings. Totally not true - I have read the news online, I have seen the satellite images from space, I got it - Dean is a big storm. And the best part is that Al Roker live from Chetumal is in the middle of pre-dawn darkness which means there really isn't anything to see.

The best part was as NBC saught higher ratings and a more comprehensive coverage, they also decided to have live reports from Kerry Sanders who actually during the broadcast said "Oh, Matt Lauer, not to worry about me in the Hurricane, we are strategically placed up against a wall." As if a storm that is churning 160 mph winds can't blow down a wall. And later, he said "Excuse me Matt but I think I need to walk away from this area as debris is flying around". I shutter to think that America and its disaster addicted viewers are one day going to see some poor reporter get blown away. Remember when Al Roker fell down during that one Hurricane. So the best thing is to report that indeed the storm is strong and wait until the next morning to witness the actual damage.

And then the kicker, Matt Lauer and Ann Curry actually go back to Al Roker, who is huddled in a slicker with a cell phone to do the national weather report. TOTAL MADNESS!!!!

I mean really, are we months away from Al Roker hitched to a wooden post in the middle of a tornado in Central Kansas? Probably would be hard to do with the video crew but honestly, I am getting nervous that we are close.....I admit disaster video footage is intriguing but only when its accidental like the Asian Tsunami coverage or a building collapse. But to know that someone is purposely putting themselves in harms way for useless video coverage.

And as a side note, I would like to bring up an important point that some of you have already heard. I am pretty sure that Ann Curry is about to have a complete and utter breakdown. Is she angry that Meredith Vieira got her coveted job? Is she upset that she is so beyond boring that it isn't even funny? Is she pissed off that everyone that has ever worked for NBC got to go to the last 4 Olympics and she still is back at Studio 1A so she can do the news with the fifth string camera crew? And then what report does she get to cover? Darfur! Don't say I didn't warn you people...

Amen to Amenities

Welcome back to Concourse H everyone. I have been busy enjoying my summer with some beach trips and overall laziness....

Recently I have been thinking about the various things in my life that I love - those actions that I go through where I say to myself "Oh, my gosh, I love that this is in my life". It may be something technological, it may be something super basic, but it still has got me thinking. I really love certain amenities and I would be sad if they were never invented. And of course, what types of amenities do I need invented to make my life easier....

Here are some of the amenities that I just absolutely love:

1. The individual TVs in the back of the seats on airplanes. A particular nod goes to the Air Canada system that is on their newer planes. When I fly from Toronto to Washington National, I just think that this is the best thing in the world. Touch screen - Watch the office - watch a movie - watch an educational program, etc. Rumor is the new Virgin America system is quite nice as well.
   
   
2. The online reservation system and catalog at the public library. (and as a backup for this one, the print option from Borders kiosks) I love this because I can get lost in Borders sometimes and easily want to buy a billion books, but I usually just print out the book and go back and search the library for it. Exceptions involve aviation related books, Harry Potter and my favorite authors - those books get bought...Thumbs down however on the library only really having hardback books - not easy for the metro commute.
   
   
3. My Bose Ipod speaker - I have a full stereo that takes up much less room. Thumbs down on the Bose speaker remote however which for some reason you need to do a full rhythmic gymastics routine or press so hard you get an aneurism to get it to work. And yes, I have checked the batteries.
   
   
4. New Balance workout shorts - Available at all sports related retailers. I love to run on the treadmill and for some reasons these shorts are the best out there. I won't go into all of the details but these don't make you feel like you are pulling your shorts back into place every two minutes. Enough said.
   


5. The 15 second button on my remote control - For those moments when you think you didn't hear something correctly on your favorite show or in the case of the Sopranos -the screen goes blank. This button is awesome.
   


6. My new sink which has a extendable handle and the ability to change from single stream to shower coverage. I love it - one day I was trying to mandhandle the Brita into the sink when I realized I could leave it on the counter and alas, the sink would come to me. I was so excited I think I actually cheered out loud...simple pleasures.

So on to the amenities that I would like to see invented in the not-to-distant future:

1. A full fledged system in movie theatres where patrons can easily press a button and people who are talking on their cell phones, or are bringing 2 year old babies into an R rated thriller or people who are slurping their sodas and munching on their popcorn in front of me (or candy, ugh!) are immediately forced out of a movie. I actually heard a rumor that this was being tested in some theatre chains. Where is it and how can I participate? Those of you who watched me suffer during a very bad Rumor Has It experience understand my plight.
   


2. As a side note to #1 above, some sort of concert democracy controlled system could be introduced where if you are in the part of the concert venue with seats and everyone is sitting down during a slow song and two idiots feel like its time to introduce their drug induced interpretive dance to everyone - the masses would be able to all get a text and announce a time where everyone in unison would say "Sit the H*ll down now!"
   


3. In homage to my wife, I know she would like to see a mandatory system at metro farecard checks where if you don't get your card out in time, or you show clear signs of not understanding the system, you are levitated upwards and moved to the back of the line where the ExitFare machines are. Perhaps Karyn could lead the R&D on this one.
   


4. The "Weather-on-the-watch" system where if the skies are turning grey and I really need to just get to the metro or walk the quick distance home from the metro - I could look at my watch and it would say "2 minutes to precipitation - book it Mister!" Or "Drizzle only, walk at leisurely pace" or "Grab a newspaper now because you need something to cover your head - we are about to blow!"

So there they are. I have to say amenities are awesome. They add that special level of satisfaction in my daily routine. Without them, I would definitely be sad...

And yes, I did leave out my DVR and iPod, but don't think for a minute that they aren't cherished as well.

Passing on the family food traditions

This past week, our family went to Lewes, Delaware (second trip to Lewes this summer) and we had a great time eating good beach food, swimming in the ocean, flying kites, doing puzzles and playing games. Karyn and I were also very lucky to have some really good bonding time with our two adorable neices (we were lucky to have also spent time with our other neice, Lilly, earlier this summer on trip #1).

One of the highlights of the trip was going to my favorite place on the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk - Gus and Gus Place, where one can have the best gyro in the world.

Check out the pictures from my sister's album at the following link.