Catching Up...

As promised, we're back up and running here at the Ross Press Release after the cable company decided to show up this morning to hook up my cable and internet. They were supposed to come last Thursday but decided not to follow my directions and then wondered why I wasn't here. The story goes like this: My building has a security guard, but the desk sits in the lobby of the office building next door. They have a waiver that I signed which allows the security guard to let all utility companies in my apartment to do service, so that I don't have to sit around waiting for them and miss work. Well, that is fine with me. So, the cable company decided not to go to the security desk last week, then called me wondering why I wasn't there. In the meantime, I was sitting in a meeting at work, with the cell phone turned off. Then I called them up on Thursday night and bitched at them until they were able to reschedule for Monday morning. That's right bitch, I have blogging to do and I'm bored out of my mind without any internet or TV. The good news: I was able to catch up some of my Seinfeld DVD's and read some magazines.

Yes, so the move wasn't too bad. The folks came up to assist in the proceedings and I got a couple of movers to help with the pieces of furniture that I have that would break my back and my father's back if we tried to move it on our own. So you ask, "Ross, why do you need movers if you are just moving down the block?" Because of convenience factor, these guys know what they are doing, and I don't have a vehicle large enough for my desk, sofa, kitchen table, etc. So Antoine and Barrett came from the moving company and they were damn good. Barrett was one funny guy, he had the do-rag and everything. Some of his comments were about my dad ("Yo, he's one funny guy with all them crazy stories he be tellin me"); comments about my new apartment ("Yo, Ross, man, you best be gettin all the hunnies up in this bachelor pad"); and on TO ("Man, he's lookin for booka money in his contact!") although I'm not sure what "booka" money is, but I'll take his word for it. These guys were efficient and well worth the money.

Just need to purchase 2 new items for this apartment. An area rug for the living room (this place has hardwood floors vs. the carpeting in the other joint) and I need a coffee table. Coffee table will be an Ikea purchase. Taking suggestions if anyone has any good ideas where I can get a reasonably-priced 9' x 12' area rug.

This weekend: Drove into the city on Friday night because we had Alison & Reza's wedding out in Long Island (yes, that's "in Long Island" not "on Long Island") on Saturday. So I battled the crazy drivers and actually found street parking right near Jessica's apartment. I almost got hit by a few cabs, almost hit a few people myself, but it all worked out in the end. Big crowd hung out in the quasi-Mexican bar on the Upper East Side. They had Dos Equis on tap, so that's a positive in my book.

Saturday took us out to the Long Island in the afternoon, but we first had to battle traffic in order to get out of Manhattan. There was a street fair on 2nd Avenue which obstructed our path to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Finally made it onto the Long Island Expressway (LIE) after about 30 minutes of battling cabs, pedestrians, and other concrete jungle animals.

Now, let me digress for a moment about the LIE. Now I understand that there aren't too many ways to get out to points in Long Island from the city. But when they were building it, you'd think they would have created more than one option. Then after more and more people started migrating to the LI and more suburbs popped up, they still only made certain routes to get into and out of the city. All of a sudden you have about 2.7 million people living in Long Island with limited options of getting into the city, where I'm sure, many of them work. Of course you have the Long Island Railroad and so on, and there are other expressways and parkways that take you to varying points, but I just don't get it. It's like if you had an island filled with criminals and they all moved in one direction each day as the prison guard let them out into the prison yard for recreation hour. So the mass of people all migrate in the same direction and of course, you are going to encounter so back up on the way to the free weights and license plate making machines. And then after the rec hour is done, everyone's gotta take the same route back into their cells and will encounter the same backup again. This is the same situation as you see with rush hour on the Long Island Expressway. (I look to my good friend and native Long Islander, Eric Steinberg, for comment on this topic)

The wedding was a good time on Saturday. Very nice little service, right to the point while cutting out all of the bullshit. Then we went straight to cocktail hour, where I was very impressed with the selection of hors d'oeuvres and name brand liquor. (Let's hear it for the stuffed mushrooms, scallops wrapped in bacon, and shrimp tempura to go with my whiskey sour and 7&7. mmm.) The wedding reception was also very nice as I continued to enjoy the food, music, and the company.

(Hey there's the Jessica and the Ross!)

Julie and Ellen get a shout-out as well!

Other highlights of the wedding reception included Reza's Aunt Mimi who was quiet a character, Alison's little cousins ripping it up on the dance floor with killer moves, and the DJ who couldn't get enough of Men at Work's "Down Under", so he decided to play it twice. After the party was over, we made our way to Wicker's, which was some bar/restaurant not to far from the reception, where all-star Ellen decided to yack into a plastic CVS bag while sitting in the Wicker's parking lot. Ellen - easy on those Tanqueray and tonics next time. Furthermore, kudos goes out to Meredith, who yacked into a plastic bag on Sunday afternoon during the ride back into the city. I should mention Meredith's extremely efficient yacking. She yacked into a bag while I drove through Queens looking for the Queensborough Bridge, and managed not to get any yack on the seat or floor of my car. Meredith, job well done.

Other notables:

- If you like Radiohead, check out the band, Muse. Their record, Absolution, is full of excellent songs and you'll be scratching your head for quiet some time as to the eerie similarity between the lead singer's voice and that of Thom Yorke.

- I'm planning on going to see "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" this week. Heard some good feedback on it, but feel free to leave your comments if you've already seen it.

That's it for this evening. I'll be back tomorrow night for sure.