I found the above picture by Saul Loeb on the Seattle Times web site. I was unlucky to be at work when President Obama was sworn in but I was able to look at all of the online pictures and coverage once I got home. The one thing that struck me was when the media started covering the Ball’s that they were attending. I was never alive to see President Kennedy, but over the years I sure have seen enouph old film of the guy and his wife. When I was watching President Obama give his little speach before he led his wife around the dance floor for a couple of turns it reminded me of the film reels that I had seen of President Kennedy and the thought that shot into my head was “Royalty has returned to the White House”. I hope I’m not wrong because if I’m right and one man inspired a nation to go to the moon, just think of what we may be inspired to do.

That’s a very good question. If you can find it in this mess faster than I can it’s all yours. The above picture is of the warehouse after all of the routes have left for the day with as much freight as they can take. The photo really doesn’t do the situation justice. What you can see is only a quarter of what is sitting on pallets spread throughout the warehouse. This is also the 29th of December, I was delivering stuff today that was due on the 18th of December. In nine years at FedEx this is the worst I have ever seen it. Trust me, you’ll get your package, I just don’t know when.

It’s time to start the “How Happy Is Your Hour” series up again. We are going to kick it off with The Twilight Exit. This is our local dive bar and it’s really cheese. The decor is like the 70’s got sick and threw up all over the place. There are lamps hanging from the ceiling that are a throw back to the swinger scene that should have stayed dead, shag carpeting on the walls (no, I’m not kidding), and a large pastel painting of some kind of tropical beach scene that dominates one entire wall. Nothing matches in this place and I do mean nothing. What this place does have is good beer and good food. The happy hour is the best as far as alcohol goes. Happy hour starts at opening, 4pm, till 8pm. Wells go for $2.50, PBR’s are $1.50 and draft beer goes for $3.00. Drink on my friends, drink on.

I spent the last two days downtown running around. It always saddens me this time of year that Thanksgiving isn’t given the props that it deserves. They start throwing up Christmas decorations before the turkey hits the oven. What happened to decorations of turkeys walking around in pilgrim hats? We have had some really great weather these last two days and I’ve taken advantage of it. Brenda and I walked downtown on Sunday to the market to get some fresh veggies for homemade vegetable soup. Of course we stopped at Lowell’s and had a couple of beers as a reward for walking downtown. I just love that place yet I always forget about it. It kinda make it into a surprise every time I wind back up there. After the market we did a little shopping and then decided it would be a good idea to walk home as well. Not a good idea, it turned out to be a five mile walk-a-thon that day. The only thing that kept us going was the next bar that we would come along as we need to quench our thirst from all the exercising we were doing. The next day I found myself back downtown. They were setting up the carousel and Santa’s House was up at Nordstrom. Every store I went in had some kind of Christmas thing going on. Oh well, I’m still looking forward to Thursday and pigging out.

Yes, he really is that cute. This is Boone, he is a french bulldog that is about 2 months old and we get to babysit. His mom works the graveyard shift at a local hospital so we get to be one of many homes that he gets to visit while moms working. I went and picked him up for the first time yesterday and we get him today and then his mom comes and gets him tomorrow. We are looking at this as a trial run to see if we can do a dog or not. So far I think we are doing pretty good. For the most part he is house broken (he did manage to pee on the bathroom rug once though) and I figured out that you have to get him in the grass for him to do his business. He is a big snuggler and I haven’t heard a bark out of him yet. All in all he is just a joy to watch and watch him you must because he is a little trouble maker, you can see it in his eyes.

Yes, I know this is a long time coming. It’s late in being posted. Shoot me! Anyway, after a down and dirty tour of D.C. with the best tour guide in the world we found ourselves back in NYC for the last leg of our trip. When we got in we hit the Italian restaurant that was close to where we were staying for a late lunch/early dinner. We did just a little more running around, like up to Rockefeller Center to by tickets for the observation deck. If you find yourself in NYC and you’re looking to go up in The Empire State Building I would say save your money and go up in The Rock instead. The ticket costs about the same and you have a scheduled time, no waiting in line you just hop the elevator and go to the top. You get the same views as you do from the The Empire State Building, but there is one thing that you get to see from the top to The Rock that you don’t get to see from The Empire State Building and that’s The Empire State Building.

Then it was off to our bar, The Edge, where I think we only payed for about 3/4 of the alcohol that we actually drank there (I’m not sure, I was really drunk every time we left that place). Most of the usual suspects were there. Meg (yes Meg), the skinny as a rail bartender that has of more energy than any one person should have. Pete, the supper hottie that smells really good. Rico (I’m not really sure what his name was), the high as a kite manager that we think was gay. As far as neighborhood bars go this one was the tops and I felt right at home in that place.

The next day Dann came into town. He caught the red eye out of Seattle so he hadn’t slept for a good 24 hours but that didn’t stop us or him. We drug his ass to the Top of the Rock, Central Park, and The Tavern on the Green (it’s not a tavern to my great disappointment). Then we hopped the LIRR to see some friend from Seattle that were staying out on Long Island while we were in NYC. We rounded off the day with a trip back into the city and a visit to our favorite bar, which was still open when we left it at 4am, and I thought I was a drinker.

The next day was all about Brooklyn and Conney Island. I do have to say that I was dead tired and we almost didn’t make it out there. But our friends Robin and Alethea were kind enough to come into the city and drive us around for the day. I just couldn’t see myself going back into the sauna that they call the subway for an hour, which is what it would have taken us to make it out there. I’m really glad that we went since it was the last year the park was open. We ran around the park for a couple of hours and Dann and I rode The Cyclone (who said wooden roller coasters weren’t scary).

The next day it was back to reality and the West Coast. I was glad to be going home but sad as well. Even though I was starting to feel claustrophobic in the city (the sun was out but you could never see it past the skyscrapers), I found that I really liked the East Coast. There are so many things to do and see all within spitting distance. The food is to die for and you can get everything under the sun at any time of the day. The history is intense, not as intense as Europe, but still. And the people were so nice. I know you may have heard horror stories about New Yorkers but they were the most friendly people I have meet next to the Irish. I hope to find myself back on the Island sooner rather than later.

As always if you want to see all of the photos that I have uploaded from the trip click here.

Ok, so this should probably be “D.C. In 48 Hours” but I’ve got a theme going here. On Tuesday of our trip we got on a bus to go to D.C. to see our friend David. The bus ride went really smooth and before we knew it we were there. David met us and we hopped the metro train out to his place. We were lucky enough to be able to crash at his place and it also gave us more time with him since we weren’t going to be there long. David introduced us to his neighbor Amanda and then we all piled into his convertible and went out to dinner. After that it was down to The Mall for some night time monument gazing. After some morning wake up kisses from Minka (David’s cute little puppy) it was off to the Smithsonian and The Air and Space Museum. We also hit the Library of Congress and then it was off to the Kennedy Center for a free concert. That turned out to be a bust as it was some kind of Brazilian Chamber Music. I started to fall asleep, Brenda had to pee, and I think we lost David at the first note that was played. I am proud of the fact that we made it through two songs before we ran to the nearest bar which happened to be at the infamous Watergate Hotel (now that was fun). We managed to drag ourselves back out to David’s house and passed out, literally. The next morning came all to soon and we found ourselves back on the bus to NYC. We have to go back and we will. There is still much to do and see and the best reason of all is that David is there.

For more Washington D.C. photos look here.

Ok, so it’s a little late but there’s no time like the present. Let me just say I Love NYC! The people, the food, the sites, you name it I love it (well maybe not all of the smells). We flew in on a Saturday and went to a pizza joint that was right down the street from us and then straight to the bar that was a few doors from the appartment that we rented. Oh yeah did I mention that we were right next door to the Hell’s Angels HQ. Good times! Anyway back to the bar. We had so much fun and met a ton of really great people starting with our bartenders all the way to Princess Sarah. The next day had us going on one of those double decker buses that you can catch at Times Square so we could get a layout of the city. More food and more drinks followed and another perfect day in the city. After dark we went back up to Times Square and took the night tour as well.

The next day we went down to the financial district and ran around the southern tip of the island. Then we went on a harbor tour cruise and went out to cruse by Ellis Island and the Statue Of Liberty then under the Brooklyn Bridge. This day also happened to be our one year anniversary. We had a wonderful bottle of wine at the hour that we got married and then we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset to meet up with our friends and have some pizza.

For more photos click here.