songbird's crazy world

One day last spring Drew called me at work and told me about a seafood place he wanted to try. A couple of friends overheard the conversation and told me "OMG you HAVE to go there!" Tonight we finally did. You walk into the restaurant and the first thing you notice are the staff t shirts -- ti dyed, with peace signs on the front and "peace, love and crabs" on the back. You can buy a shirt if you desire. The music is very loud (this is not a place for quiet conversation!) and periodically the staff will drop what they're doing to line dance. A wall of "surfboards" separates the bar from the main dining room. As my friend Maureen said, it's got a Jimmy Buffett-like spirit. We had a coupon for a free appetizer, so we started our meal with a bucket of shrimp -- peel and eat shrimp in a spicy rub. Nice afterburn. The star of the menu is the steam pot. A little pricey but worth it. Mine came with a whole lobster, two crab legs, half a do...

So said Jimmy Buffett last night at Jones Beach. A Jimmy Buffett concert isn't just a concert.   It's an experience. First of all there's the tailgating.   My first Buffett concert was at Madison Square Garden, where there was no place to tailgate.   But at Jones Beach they fill up two parking lots and party all day.  They wear crazy tropical gear, they set up grills and tiki bars and etc.  They break about a dozen park rules in the process. Tailgating was a problem for us last year.  When we arrived at the concert both lots near the theater were closed and we had to park in an unlit lot a mile down the road.  This year I paid extra for preferred parking and we had no problem.   But Drew in incensed at the rule breaking ("they roped off 16 spot for their party!").  He worked at the park for many years.  . .  Personally I think that they should set up camp on the beach-- Jones Beach is a wonderful beach, and wh...

Becca first.  Starting her junior year of college.  Moved into an apartment with two other students.  Will start on internship with the office of a major political figure (I won't say who) right after Labor Day. Jen just started a job as a teaching assistant in a local preschool.  It's a synagogue preschool (who knew her Hebrew school education would make her employable?).  She only works mornings, so in the afternoon she will take on a babysitting job witg school-age children.  And she plans to start grad school in tge spring to work on her teaching credentials.

This year the storyline included the "Pan Scandinavian Games".  The jousting and living chessboard were part of the "games".

A ventriloquist?

Watch "2012-08-25_11-51-50_281.mp4" on YouTube

Love the name of this chain . . ."Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday, who could hang a name on you when you change with every new day . . . " It was late when we got back from the Renaissance Faire, we were starving, and Drew was still thinking about the salad bar he passed up at Volcano's Friday night. Ruby Tuesday is one of the few places around here that still has a salad bar. Drew had been a "regular" at this place awhile back, but my one experience with this chain had not been good. I have now added this place to my list of "likes". Salad bar here is pretty standard -- several choices of greens with other veggies, bacon bits, ham, shredded cheese, typical dressings. I liked the pasta salad but didn't care for the potato salad -- they should peel the potatoes when using them in a salad. We skipped the appetizer. I ordered petite sirloin with a skewer of shrimp scampi and rice pilaf. Drew ordered the petite sirloin ...

Background music:  "Take Me To The Fair" from Camelot Can you believe the NY Renaissance Faire is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year?  I used to go back when the faire was new, but got out of the habit.  Nowadays, Drew and I go every year, sometimes with friends, sometimes just the two of us. This year it was just us.  Our plan was to drive from Long Island to Tuxedo Park via the Throgs Neck Bridge, the Cross Bronx Expressway to the George Washington Bridge and Route 17 from New Jersey up to Orange County and the Faire.  Got across the Throgs Neck, found out that it would take over an hour to get across the Bronx . . .turned on the GPS and headed to the Tappan Zee instead.  Got to the Faire before the gates opened. Background music:  Disney's "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life For Me)" What I've noticed about the faire . . .30 years ago "Renaisance" encompassed medieval and Renaissance costumes.  Now it also includes elements of fantasy (faeri...

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know where I'm a-gonna go when the volcano blows." -- Jimmy Buffett Tonight we were in the mood to try something new. So we headed to Oceanside to Volcano's Burgers and Salads. It's sort of a cross between fast food and a sit down restaurant. You can order take out at the counter, or you can be seated at a table or booth and have waitress service. I loved how the tables are all dry-erase boards -- you can play tic tac toe or hangman or do a maze or word search. The menu tends to lean towards spicy foods and unusual burger toppings. Besides burgers there are also chicken sandwiches and a variety of salads, including a (pretty standard) salad bar. The fried pickles came with a moderately spicy dipping sauce. The Hawaiian burger -- swiss cheese, red onion and grilled pineapple -- was cooked to order and served with lettuce and tomato and teriyaki sauce on the side; sauce was very thick and sweet, and a l...

I don't play golf, I don't watch others play golf, I know very little about golf. I  do know a little something about Bethpage Black. It's one of several golf courses located in Bethpage State Park.    It's been the site of the US Open twice.  And this week it was the site of a PGA event. What does this have to do with me? There's no real parking facility at the state park.  So fans are being encouraged to take the LIRR to Farmingdale for shuttle bus service to the event.  The station has been decorated with red, white and blue banners all week. My train goes through Farmingdale.  I actually had golf fans on my train the other morning.    And tonight on my way home I saw all the fans on the platform waiting for the train to the city. And I saw the blimp landing at Republic Airport. A little excitement in an otherwise boring commute.

Feeling a little nostalgic tonight. I'n home alone with my two daughters, and we ordered dinner from Panera tonight. When the girls were in high school we did a lot of takeout from Panera. In fact, when Jen was admitted to URI, one of the "selling points" (to her, anyhow) was the existence of a Panera in Wakefield. And Becca was disappointed at the lack of a Panera near her school. Well, tonight we indulged again. Jen ordered the chicken caesar sandwich, prepared without onion or tomato (her special request). Becca chose from the "pick two" menu -- a small cup of soup ( she loves broccoli cheddar) and a half sandwich (bacon turkey bravo -- turkey, bacon and gouda cheese, and she asks for country white instead of the usual tomato bread). I decided to try something I never had before -- a Cuban sandwich from the panini menu. Ham, chicken, swiss, pickles, chipotle mayo . . .yum. Just enough spice to give it a kick but not overwhelming. And the b...

Street fair outside my office today. The "fried dough" booth had funnel cake, zeppole and fried Oreos. I love fried dough and powdered sugar.  And I'm rather fond of Oreos. So what could be bad, right? Should have stuck with the zeppole.  Did not like fried Oreos at all!

So last night after work I took the subway up to 50th St.  The rain started just as I was walking out of the station.  I ducked into an alcove with an awning and opened my umbrella.  Good thing, too, since the the rain . . . Well. It was good that I only had to walk two short blocks to the August Wilson Theater, because by the time I reached the theater and was safely under the marquee, the skies had opened up and the rain eas coming down in torrents.  52nd St. was starting to look like a river!  Poor Drew . . .he had a leaky umbrella and arrived at the theater looking like a drowned rat. Usually we like to eat dinner before the show, but with a 7:00 curtain that wasn't possible.He made do with Twizzlers and bought me a chocolate bar . . . He knows me so well. "Jersey Boys" is a Broadway staple, a show that's been running " forever", but neither of us had seen it.  The show tells the back story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and features the best ...

That's shorthand actually.  It's really called New York Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center. It's the best hospital in NYC and one of the best in the country. It's an aspect of life in NYC that I didn't think I'd be addressing.  But here we are. My father needed an aortic valve replacement.  The traditional method is open heart surgery, but because of other medical conditions my father was ineligible for such surgery. Welcome to 21st century cutting edge technology.  Transcatheter aortic valve replacement.  Similar to an arteriogram, catheters are snaked through arteries to the heart, and the replacement valve is placed on top of the patient's existing (defective) valve. My father got his difibrillator at St. Francis, Long Island's premiere cardiology center ( they call themselves "the heart hospital").  But St. Francis only recently got FDA approval for clinical trials of transcatheter aortic valve replacement, bu...

Friday night we went to see the Long Island Ducks.  This time we sat on the third base line, right behind the visiting team's dugout.  Great seats.  Instead of our usual hot dogs, I had sweet Italian sausage with peppers and Drew had a roast beef hero.  The giveaway was a foam finger.  :-)  Good game, a few controversial plays -- one of the York Revolution players had to be physically restrained by his coach while arguing with the umpire.  Ducks won, of course.  Great night if baseball. Now Saturday . . .how can I describe Saturday? Mets vs. Braves at psuedo-Shea . . .er, Citi Field.  Parked in our usual lot on Roosevelt Avenue, the one where you have to walk up the stairs into the subway station to get across the street.  But then, instead of walking into the main entrance by the rotunda, we entered the stadium through the Seaver entrance.  Seems that purchasing field level seats behind home plate gives you admission into the Del...

The way people push and shove to get onto an already-overcrowded train, you'd think their lives depended on it, like waiting a few minutes for the next train = death and destruction. Take what I saw this morning.  The E train has its terminal at the World Trade Center.  Two tracks flank a central platform.  A downtown train pulls in, discharges a group of passengers, passengers waiting on the platform board the train, then it reverses direction and heads uptown. As my train pulled in and discharged passengers, another train was boarding for the trip uptown.  Subway cars have double doors that meet in the middle of the door frame when closed.  Just as the doors were closing I saw a woman stick her umbrella between the closing doors.  The doors closed and she tried to pry them open. Conductor opened the door just a few inches, so she could remove the umbrella . . .and she stuck her arm in the door. Conductor finally gave in and let her onto the train.

Dermatologist called the house  and left a message asking me to call her office. So I found an empty conference room at lunchtime (didn't want to call from a cubicle, where everyone can eavesdrop). Bad news. The lesion on my neck shows "atypical" cells.  And the one on my nose is "precancerous".  Both need to be removed. Dermatologist can do the nose but I have to see a plastic surgeon for my neck. Let the nightmares begin.

You know I am a Monkees fan.  I posted about it often enough. The Monkees have announced a short tour in the fall.  Mickey, Peter and Mike.  Yes, Mike.  He hasn't appeared with the band since 1997, I'm told. We have tickets for 12/2 at the Beacon.  The last night of the tour.

I haven't been watching the Olympics this year.  For some reason I just couldn't get into it. But today I am bursting with pride.  A young woman got up on the world's stage, proclaimed who she is, and what she values: "I am American, I am Jewish, and I honor the Munich 11." She won a gold metal for her floor routine, done to "Hava Nagilah".  She accepted her medal to "The Star Spangled Banner". And then she did what the IOC refused to do.  And that's more important than  that medal. http://m.nypost.com/p/news/national/jewish_gal_shows_up_ioc_with_gold_6OBzi2VCkaszwS0ij3n7OI

Jen loves working with children.  She plans to get a Master's in Education and become an elementary school teacher. Her job this summer has been at a day camp.  She's been a counselor at the camp since she was 17, and before that she was a camper there.  This summer she's working with girls who are going into 6th grade.  She's known most of them since they were 2nd graders.    She loves these girls and they love her. Yesterday there was some roughhousing, all in good fun, but somehow Jen wound up on the ground. And when she got up . . .well, she hobbled to the nurse's office. It's only a sprain, but the doctor at the ER gave her an air cast and crutches.  Told her she will be ok in about 3 days. She plans to go to work today.

Drove past here the other day and realized how long it's been . . . Place opened when my kids were in middle school/ high school and coming here was as much a social event, to see and be seen, as it was about the ices. The store is seasonal, opening in the spring and cloding down in the fall. Customers never go inside, you walk up to the window and place your order, or you take advantage of the drive through. There's no real seating area. And making the left turn out of the parking lot is a killer. There's a large selection, as you might expect. My favorites are lemon, cherry and rainbow (I go with the basics) but I also like the cola and cherry cola, the pina colada. So cool and refreshing! A great sumertime treat.

Now there is a massive construction project near the railroad station.  They're digging up the streets and installing a public sewer system. A different detour every morning.

Commuters tend to be creatures of habit.  Every morning I drive to the train station and park in the same section of the parking lot.  I know the train schedule (or rather, the rush hour schedule) by heart, and I know where to position myself on the platform while waiting for the train so that the doors open right in front of me.  When I get to Penn Station at night, I usually know which track my train will be on before it is posted and announced. When you ride the train every day you start to notice yout fellow commuters.  Sometimes you find yourself talking to people you see every day-- your "platform buddies" and "train buddies".  People you talk to only because you share a commute. One time, about 2 years ago, there was a problem in Penn Station.  I think there was a power outage in the East River tunnel, which meant no trains could enter or leave the station.  My first thought was to take the subway, the E train to Queens.  The E train has ...

Our evening began at the Stage Deli, a place I have come to love. Tonight I ordered the sandwich special -- a half sandwich with a side of potato salad. My "go-to" sandwich is pastrami on rye, which was plated with a sour pickle and a half sour pickle. Pastrami was a little on the greasy side. Potato salad was very basic. There were no leftovers. Drew had his usual tongue sandwich with russian dressing. The sandwiches here are overstuffed, and half a sandwich is usually enough for us. Next we walked over to Studio 54. This place started as a theater in1927 before it was converted to the famed disco/celebrity hangout. But has once again returned to its roots. Tonight's offering: "Harvey" starring Jim Parsons (if you were wondering what tv stars do on their summer vacations, they come to Broadway.) Before I talk about the play, let me talk about the theater. Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, people would ...

I have a bandaid on my nose, and another one on my neck. My primary care physician  -- don't you just "love" that phrase? :-(    -- thought it would be a good idea for me to see a dermatologist for a full-body checkup. So the big, ugly spot on my shin turns out to be a benign tumor.  The mole on my toe is just a mole. But that spot on my neck and the spot on my nose -- she didn't like those.  "Probably nothing, but let's do a biopsy anyhow. I'll have the results in a week or two." And my stomach is churning. Seven  years ago a doctor told me "It's probably hormonal, you'll be fine after the D &C but we'll do a biopsy anyhow", which was followed by a bad pathology report, a hysterectomy, radiation and chemo.  A year from hell. I don't want to go back to that dark and scary place.