Operation: We Need to Make All Weekends Longer

The weekends are always a good time. Let's face it: even if I do nothing or go nowhere, it's better than being at work like the other 5 days of the week. That's the fact. So let's recap this past weekend...

Friday night, headed into the city once I got home from work. The first order of business was getting dinner at the Shake Shack down in Madison Square Park (23rd and Broadway, right neat the Flatiron Building). This burger and milkshake establishment literally is a shack, hence the name, and is located right in the middle of this small park. So quick story from this dinner outing. Right as you walk up to the shack, they had a big easel-like stand with the menu, so people take a look at this before they get in line to order. So I see an item called the 'Shroom Burger, which I automatically take as being a hamburger with mushrooms. Sounds simple enough. And meanwhile, I'm really excited for the hamburger because the Jessica had been talking up this place for about a week now, since the last time she went there with her roommates on Labor Day. She said it was so good that we had to go. So I order the 'Shroom Burger and then we wait a little while for the food. We get the food 15 minutes later, and I'm getting ready to take a bite, and notice that the hamburger looks a little funny. Turns out that the 'Shroom Burger ended up being a "crispy fried portabello mushroom with melted cheese on a hamburger bun", which I didn't expect. Now those of you who know me well know that I love mushrooms (the food, not the illegal substance...I've heard that joke before when this topic comes up). I love mushrooms raw, sauteed, fried...in salads, on burgers, with pasta...you name it. So this situation wasn't a huge tragedy, and it ended up being a fantastic choice. It was just disappointing since I was very much looking forward the hamburger. Pointless story, but lesson to be learned is to make sure you read the entire description on the menu before you order.

Otherwise Friday night, hung out with Alison and Reza and friends at Red Sky (29th and Park) that ended up being a decent bar, if only for the fact that it had a very cool roof on which to hang out. The first two stories were like frat parties, so if it wasnt for the roof, we would have gone elsewhere. Gotta take advantage of the nice weather before it gets too cold, that's what we say.

Got up nice and early on Saturday to get ready for our trip to the Joshua Tree for the PSU football game for the 2nd straight week. Turned out to be a lot of familiar faces there on Saturday, so it was good to see the fellow alums out for the game. Still feel like the offense is a little shaky, but at least Michael Robinson got his act together and made some nice long pass plays to the young wide receivers. How about those catches by Derrick Williams, Justin King, and Deon Butler (where'd this kid come from?) Very impressive and I would definitely like to see this type of play in the coming weeks. Defense had another decent game, but snoozed a little at the end (I think the second string was in at this point) when they allowed 2 TDs in garbage time. Hopefully if they can put together another few solid performances, they can sneak into the Top 25.

Saturday night, we attended the Housewarming Party at Alexis' apartment. The interesting piece of information is that Alexis has actually been in her apartment for about a year now. However, her crazy roommate (who I called Bitchface since I could never remember her name) moved out and the new roommate just moved in about a month ago. So really, it was a party for her friends and her new roommates' friends, which is fine with me since I'm a firm believer that you never need a specific reason to party. Randomness of the night: Saw some guy that I went to camp with back when I was about 11 or 12 years old, and thus haven't seen him in more than 10 years. Apparently, the Jessica knows him as well, from her days of being involved with the Jewish youth group. I'd say that's pretty random...

Sunday...opening Sunday in the National Football League. I've been waiting many months to say those words, and I pretty much sat around and watched football all day. You gotta love that. As Brian said earlier today, "I don't remember what I did with my Sundays when football wasn't on" and that pretty much sums it up. Of course you can't base any season conclusions on the outcome of the Week 1 games, but it's great to kick off the regular season. I'm looking forward to Monday night football....Eagles opener in Atlanta. Oh man, I'm excited!

Other items from the weekend:

-Extremely happy that Texas beat Ohio State on Saturday night. I'm sick and tired of Ohio State getting all the breaks in the big games. It was about time they met their match and were knocked off by another solid team. Also, is it safe to say that Notre Dame is for real after beating up on Michigan? A weekend when Penn State won, while Ohio State and Michigan lost? This all sounds good to me.

- Spoke to this girl on Friday night who worked for a cell phone company and she chose which ringtones would be used with each cell phone. Sounds like an interesting job and also sounds very fun. Then we got on the topic of these new "ringbacks". Have you guys heard of these? You buy a ringback, and when people call you, instead of hearing the standard ring before you pick up, they'll hear a song of your choice. Sounds pretty worthless to me, since you can't even enjoy the song you pick. What a waste of time. I understand buying a ringtone, because you can hear it every time the phone rings. Ringbacks though - can't see why anyone would buy them, but thats my two cents.

That's it for now...I'll check in sometime on Monday night depending on how the Eagles game goes...