My Weekend (for a change)

Thanks to all of you who post how the weekends in Baltimore go. It really helps the rest of us to keep up with Mom's development. But my weekend was great so I thought I should update myself.

Friday morning I flew to NYC and met up with a group of old college friends. We went to Nassau Coliseum to see the Dead (formerly Grateful). The parking lot scene was cool and the show was pretty darn cool itself. I had seen them in Greensboro NC a few weeks ago as they opened their first tour in several years, and I had been following the reaction to their shows since then. I just figured, what the hell. I'd travel to see them when I was poor but had no responsibilities, so why not try it when the opposites were true. I spent the next morning walking off a hangover in Manhattan. I can recommend the Chelsea Hotel, on 23rd Street. Besides all of the famous people who lived (and died) there, they have a tremendous amount of modern art and hipsters all over the place.

I passed up a ticket for the Saturday show at Madison Square Garden to return to Durham where another old friend was visiting. Then Sunday morning was Shane's First Communion, followed by a nice brunch at the Washington Duke. Quality time with the whole family - even Rhett came out.

Then the boy and I headed over to Chapel Hill to see the Duke lacrosse team beat UNC for the ACC title. We stopped in Durham to pick up the girls, then went to Raleigh to see the Hurricanes beat the NJ Devils to stay alive in the NHL playoffs. Tow great games on Sunday. Both teams have are long-shots to win their respective titles, but it is fun to see them playing well this late in the year.

Every weekend should have such nice weather, good friends and times with the family, and successful sporting matches. I hope yours' was nice also. See you all soon.

Spit Take

So I was sitting next to my boss at our National Sales Meeting and she was wondering why the speaker was just rehashing business we had already heard about 10 times. I said, "He's a dud." and then waited 5 seconds and leaned over and whispered, "Not that there's anything wrong with that." This earned a spit take and uncontrollable giggles for awhile (think "Danny's Wedding" or a few weeks ago at Mass with the Nugents.) Thanks, Quinn! This will really position me well for a promotion :)

We had Condoleeza Rice as a key note speaker - she was very good. She must have left every meeting with Bush saying WTF to herself. Him, too. Although she strikes me as a very loyal person. And I can see her strength as a representative of the US to the world. She was very diplomatic in her answers to questions from the very Republican-leaning crowd. I got to shake her hand - imagine the long list of other people she's done that with? We also heard and met Bob Costas, Richard Simmons, Nastia Lukien, Brian Clay, Bruce Jenner and Mary Lou Retton. It was a lot of fun.

BTW, if anyone wants to lower their cholesterol, there's a new clinical study just published this week that if you lower your calories by 500 per day and eat 3 cups of Cheerios per day, you will lower your cholesterol by 10% in 1 month! So either buy Cheerios or buy stock. Just kidding about the stock - we have been languishing.

Back to work! Take care,
Lel

How about Susan Boyle! She is amazing!

Nice visit with Mom. We left her with Danny who was going to take her to hear some bagpipers(?) that were practicing in a nearby parking lot.
LTA,
Q

Orioles Baseball

East..................... W L .Pct GB
Baltimore Orioles..... 6 2 .750 --
Toronto Rue Blays... 6 3 .667 0.5
Tampa Jay Bays...... 4 4 .500 2.0
New York Skankees. 4 4 .500 2.0
Boston Red Sux...... 2 5 .286 3.5

Happy Birthday, Dad

Hope you are celebrating in a deservedly heavenly way. Me and Jameson will be over to say hello after a visit with Mom this evening.

Megan, thanks so much for hosting the Easter gathering. I and my branch of the clan had a marvelous time.

Easter, Again

Well, I guess Danny doesn't have any house news to share. So I thought I'd bring up Easter again. I've been cleaning and de-cluttering... a massive chore at my house. But I'll be ready for Easter lunch, on Saturday, at 12:30. Can I get a body count from y'all? I left a message and sent an e-mail to Uncle Larry. Do any of you have cousin Julie's phone number? She didn't reply to my e-mail, so I'm not sure if she got it. Quinn and I invited Melmarie. I'll try to get hold of Paul to see if he could bring her with Mom. I also plan on inviting Aunt Ditty, so this could be really interesting.

I'll have ham and chicken salad, rolls and bread, candy, chips and salsa, pita chips and hummus, candy, cheese and crackers, and candy. Anybody wanna bring a side dish? Or sodas? I can get beer, as well as grenadine and cherries for Shirley Temples. Am I forgetting anything else? Levelle, I know you mentioned you could bring egg salad made from your stash of dyed eggs, but don't you need them for Sunday?

Progress on the house sale

Hey, we had a flurry of inquiries about 627 Yarmouth today and yesterday. I'm showing it to at least one couple late tomorrow morning and possibly another. And all this without even burying a statue of St. Joseph...upside down...facing the house. Keep your fingers crossed ;)

I may combine this with a visit to Mom tomorrow rather than coming back down on Sunday. I'll have to see how pressed for time I am.