Hitcher

When Mike came home from work last night, he handed me a little bottle of water. He then told me it was from his hitchhiker. I thought he just meant that he gave somebody a lift from work, but he really meant a hitchhiker. He was driving down the road (about 2 miles from home), and some dude dressed up in golfing clothes and carrying a big bag was trying to run down the road. He was in the way, so Mike slowed down since there was oncoming traffic. Somehow he talked to the guy, and he had missed his bus and wanted to catch it down the road. Mike picked him up. At about the same time, a cop stopped from the other direction and warned Mike about picking up people he did not know. The area he stopped is right next to a golf course on the border with Greenwich, and the guy was Krameresque (versus homeless looking). Mike said he had the look of someone rushing to their gate at the airport. So Mike dropped him off at the next bus stop. After Mike turned the car around, he flagged him down again. Mike this time stopped reluctantly, but the guy said something like, "Thanks Dude" and handed him a little bottle of water. So Mike survived picking up a hitcher in a affluent area.

From 1978 - Carvel Ice Cream Store

I think this may be what KC was talking about!

Clean Bill....

I had 3 doctor's appointments in the last week. I have to get a physical every year since I am a provider for the dept. of health, and I managed to get some appointments quickly for some other doctors while I was thinking about it. I decided that I needed to start seeing a dermatologist for skin checks due to my Irish heritage and years lifeguarding without sunscreen. Luckily my appointment went well, but I learned that I will need to put some sun protection on when I am treating in the pool. The pool is technically indoors, but it is under a glass atrium. Apparently, UVA rays go through glass and UVB do not (or the other way around, I can not remember). Time to buy your Coppertone stock!

We walked at Rockefeller tonight, and there were new signs saying that runners can not run in groups larger than 3. There must have been an incident like an impromptu race. I wonder what cranky person complained about runners. I think people should not walk in large groups of 3 either.

I am taking next week off, but still no plans. We will see after W closes his deal (or not) tommorrow. Good thing we are spontaneous.

I was schooled in Carvel tonight. I am not familiar with Cookiepuss or Fudgie the Whale. Cookiepuss is a little scary looking. His facial proportions are off. I guess I am so midwestern when I do not know anything about these ice cream cakes. Mike told me that they are the same basic shape, but they make it into several different characters depending on the season. Like the whale turns into Santa. That is a clever business model. The dumbest cake design I saw was back to school. It must be for the adults!

http://www.carvel.com/products/signature.htm

His Abs are criminal!

Vital Signs - Researchers Find Link Between Crime and Fitness - NYTimes.com

Happy Birthday Ann!

Radler Part II

Mike asked me to enter "Radler" into the German-English search engine. The result was not the drink I am familiar, but "cyclist". It sounds like the right drink for me after hearing the history of the dring. Here is the text I lifted from Wickipedia (seemed accurate since it matched Mike's story).

The Radler (“cyclist”) is a beverage consisting of a 50%/50% or 60%/40% mixture of lager beer and German-style lemonade. It was invented by the Munich gastronomer Franz Xaver Kugler in September 1922 when approximately 13,000 cyclists visited his tavern. His beer started to run out, so he cleverly mixed the remaining beer with lemonade and pretended he created the Radler especially for the cyclists so that they could ride home without the risk of falling off their bicycles. Nowadays the Radler is not just drunk only in Bavaria but across Germany and Austria. During the summer months, Radler is very popular there due to its reputation of being a thirst-quencher.

We rode 56 miles today, so guess what I am drinking right now!

Guten tag Yanet!

I recently picked up a client from Germany, and she is 2. She does not speak English, and I am sure she thinks I am an idiot in German. In fact she kept looking at me and repeating "yellow ball" yesterday to teach me. Her mom told me that she did not think she could pronounce my name, so I told her she could say Yanet. Thank God Mike taught Kefin and I the word for "Hedge Hog Toy", because part of the compound word is coming in handy.

Sign of the Times

We get certain signs that tend to pop up along the road near busy intersections. One of them is for a youth sports program. Inevitably one of the youth sports signs always gets another stapled to it that states, "This is a BAD idea". I can not imagine what horrible event will cause somebody to always have a answer to staple to the youth sports ads, but there is a vindictive parent out there that is always ready. I am telling you all that the youth sports signs for a particular company always end up with the response signs nailed to them.

The latest smear campaign by us has been popping up over the last 2 weeks. They all say, "Shame on you ------ -------". The name is not important, and I do not want to smear anyone. Somebody must really be mad at that guy. The mad people must have a lot of time on their hands to make signs that probably get taken down daily.

Moral of the story? Do not piss off the New Yorkers!

Odds and Ends

I spent my father's day in a way that most fathers would enjoy most. Hours of drinking German beer, eating Brats, and (of course) yummy cake. I did worry that the Jaegermeister or Killipitch would appear, but my father in law had mercy on me. Mike and I did dilute the brew into Radlers at one point, so we did not drive home under the influence. My in laws are active in a German-American club, and they go to many of the picnics. Since the club is way down in Jersey (I think it is exit 145 off the Parkway), we have not been to a picnic there in some time. I have been to one since I moved here. The traffic out that way is notoriously horrible, and there used to be several toll booths charging a quarter every 2-3 miles (I think they are getting phased out). So we heard a lot of Oompah music and hung out with the folks (or volks).

We did laundry tonight. I need a house.

There is a cafe nearby called the Fair Deal Cafe. I think it is quite a bad name for a eating establishment. It implies that it is not a good deal or a bad deal. It is just a fair deal which does not make me want to rush over there and chow down. Even if the price is fair, maybe the food would be considered "fair".

We concluded last night that everyone in NYC metro area should be required to have an EZ pass. You would not believe the massive traffic jam we encountered just for the tolls at the Tappan Zee. If you can afford a car, it is likely that you have a credit card too. Just get the damn thing already! Think of all of the gas that would be saved and the reduction of pollution. As for you paranoid people who do not want to be tracked, get over yourself! I am sure the kind people at the Thruway authority have better things to do than stare at what bridges you have been crossing.

Note to governors: This is what losing a hockey bet looks like - Puck Daddy... - NHL - Yahoo! Sports

Note to governors: This is what losing a hockey bet looks like - Puck Daddy... - NHL - Yahoo! Sports
I liked that he was drinking Faygo, and it looks like Rock N' Rye which is one of my favorites.

Happy Father's Day

Here is a shout out to all of the Dads who are closest to my heart!

I can relate...

Realtors Blame Housing Market For Slump In Creepy-Mansion Sales | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Are you kidding me?

property details connecticut real estate from william raveis real estate, one of the leading real estate agencies in connecticut, featuring homes for sale in ct: fairfield, ridgefield, hartford, greenwich, stamford, litchfield

Look out KC!

A Pint-Size Problem - WSJ.com

This essential article was sent to me by alert Brian Z! I guess it will curb drunk driving!

Taormina's spot on US Olympic team now official - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

Taormina's spot on US Olympic team now official - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

B and M

We got some mailings this week that were addressed with our last names properly spelled, but with the following first names:
Bronwen
Meghan
We decided Mike gets to be Bronwen, and I am Meghan. He can be Bron or Wen for short, and I am Meg of course.

We went to some open houses yesterday and looked at some overpriced homes that have not been changed for 45 years. They were asking 1.2 and 1.3 million respectively, and one of them was the brownest house I have ever seen. It was just too hot to do anything else frankly.

Garden Vigilantes - NYTimes.com

Garden Vigilantes - NYTimes.com

Wild Westchester

Last week, I saw a big coyote on the side of the parkway when I was exiting to go home. It was weird since he was trotting around in broad daylight in the open. Yesterday, I thought about the coyote when I was driving home, and I saw it again in the same place.

I also saw a flock of wild turkeys yesterday (7-10) on a street in Rye. Some of them were even puffed up Thanksgiving style. It was pretty cool.

Pomp and Circumstance

I spent this weekend in Indiana with nearly my entire family (only missing Pat) to celebrate Jim's graduation. It was a mad-cap weekend to say the least, but it was really great. We had tornado warnings, multiple airport pick ups and drops, belated birthday gift exchanges, and graduation itself. Jim was salutatorian and delivered a fantastic speech at graduation. The twist in the weekend plans was that Jim also qualified for state meet in his individual event in track (800 meters). Graduation started at 4, and his race was at 7:45 in Bloomington (which is 90 minutes away roughly). Crazy timing to say the least. So Jim spoke, grabbed his diploma, changed into his track uniform, and we all piled onto a school bus to Bloomington. His poor track coach was subjected to us on the bus for 3 hours total--poor guy. I have to say that John managed to make the countryside interesting. Jim was quite a star in Crawfordsville to say the least. He kept getting pictures and interviews in the local paper. It really did not get to his head. I capped the weekend off by getting delayed by a day coming home and knocking my brand new cell phone into a cup of coffee (after all, I was in the land of basketball). It still beat getting stuck in Chicago last night! I could have used the dryer Sue demonstrated from the restaurant in Bloomington. It was like drying you hands with a jet engine. I managed to get a shot of Brian's face since he was surrounded by family with cameras and we could get him!