Weekend Recap

Good evening everyone and welcome to the Weekend Recap, where you get a little insight to my life over the past 2 days. I am always trying to convince myself that it's not all that exciting, but then again, everyone comes back on Monday looking to read about my weekend, so when it all comes down to it, we have a case of natual supply and demand. Nonetheless, here's what happened over the past couple of days...

- Friday night: Went into the city and first order of business was to get some dinner. We agreed on pizza and the reason I mention this is because we took Jared's recommendation on Ultimate Pizza (57th St & 1st Ave). This place was about the size of a closet, but made some damn good pizza. It should be noted that this place had a walk-up window for the late night drunks who are stumbling around looking for a slice. Reminded me of the old Acme Pizza, or for the younger kids, what's now Canyon Pizza up at the Penn State.

- Saturday: Jessica hinted that she wanted to go the gym, and since I've been a lazy piece of crap lately, I felt like it couldn't hurt to go. So we went. Had a nice little workout; got the heart pumping and the blood flowing. I mentioned a couple weeks ago how a company was opening up the Soup Nazi's restaurants all over the place. It's a franchise called Original Soup Man, and we decided to check it out. I have to say that the first go around wasn't as impressive as I expected. The selection was minimal, the portions were skimpy, and it was way overpriced. The small size (not sure how many ounces) was $4.95 for the vegetable, $5.95 for the chicken soup, and an absurd price of $8.95 for the crab bisque. You can get a whole bowl of crab bisque at the finer seafood restaurants for less than that. Any case, I tried the chicken vegetable soup and it was just fair. I'll give the Original Soup Man another chance at some other point, but this time around, I was less than impressed.

So, how about those Penn State Nittany Lions? Champions of the Big Ten! (I refuse to acknowlege the fact that they are technically "Co-Champions" with Ohio State. In the NFL, if two teams in the same division finish atop the division with the same record, but one team wins the head-to-head matchup, they are the Division Champs. Same theory should stand true in the NCAA. Penn State and Ohio State both finished 7-1 in the Big Ten. Penn State beat Ohio State in their matchup. Penn State wins the conference...end of story.) What a great season...I don't even know what else to say. It all came together this year as I've mentioned many times before. Michael Robinson came around. Tony Hunt came around. All of the freshman wide receivers exceeded all expectations. The defense was absolutely superb as Alan Zemaitis and Tamba Hali upped their NFL stock significantly this season. When all of these things come together, you're bound for a great season. Just think that PSU is :01 from an undefeated season...but then we'd all be bitching about how BCS is a travesty (which it is) and how PSU would be the odd team out of the National Championship picture (assuming USC and Texas win out). I can't say enough great things about the Nittany Lions this year, and I just hope they cap off their excellent season with a win in whichever bowl game they end up being selected to.

- Saturday night: The Jessica and I enjoyed a fine dinner at the Blue Water Grille down in Union Square. If you like seafood, I highly recommend it. You know what often goes unnoticed...when you have excellent waiter service. I have to say that the waiter we had was wonderful. It's one of those things where you notice when the service is not up to par, and when it's satisfactory, you just brush it off as being expected. But how many times do you tell the waiter/waitress after your meal that they did a fine job? I actually did on Saturday night. This guy was thorough, extremely personable, and went above and beyond the call of duty. Each course even came with his own recommendation, which helped aid the decision process. So at the end of dinner, I said to the guy, "I have to tell you that you did an excellent job," and he seemed to appreciate my kind words. I find it important to recognize positive achievements and not just be the person who only speaks up when there's complaints.

Another topic of discussion: the bathroom attendant. Ever been to a restaurant when there's a guy who's job it is to be the so-called "assistant" in the restroom? What an awkward idea. As soon as I open the door, I feel it being pulled open, and sure enough there's a guy standing there with a suit on and a big smile. Now what does this guy actually do? He turns the faucet on for you, puts some liquid soap in your hands and then hands you two paper towels? Big deal. And I'm supposed to give this guy a $1 tip? Please don't get me wrong, as I'm not trying to sound cheap. It's the principle of the tip being expected for a service that I do perfectly fine every day on my own. I can turn on the faucet, get some soap, and my own paper towels. If I used any of the products they have there (which are absurd, by the way...15 different colognes, eye drops, deodarant, mouth wash, you name it), then maybe I'd consider giving the tip. Bottom line is that I can do everything on my own and don't need this guy standing on top of me. Therefore, in my mind, no tip is warranted. Please let me know if you disagree.

Afterwards, had a few birthday celebrations to attend. First off, went down to the Greenwich Village for a belated bday celebration for Kelly at the Greenwich Brewery. It's was great to see Kel and the rest of the crowd that came out Saturday night. Afterwards, an early bday celebration for Alexis at the Red Lion. I also want to take this opportunity to wish Alexis a very happy 24th birthday (real birthday on Thanksgiving Day)! Alexis is a big supporter of the RPR, and you may have read her very detailed and accurate accounts of Laguna Beach episodes. On a few occasions when I missed the latest episode, Alexis filled in with a great column for me. Happy Birthdat Alexis!

- Sunday: Got up pretty early so that the Jessica and I could meet up with Julie and her mom for breakfast, since they were in town for just a couple of days. The one good thing about getting up early on a weekend day is that you feel like you can accomplish stuff and not be a waste of space like I usually am. So instead, I took the opportunity to watch the NFL pregame shows. I'm going to discontinue my comments on the Eagles since they cause me grief, mental anguish, high blood pressure, and nausea. These are the side effects that come along with awful performance on the football field. So, I'm not going to say anything and just wait for next week with hopes that they can at least make this a respectable season.

That's all I have for tonight. This is going to be a short week and I think I may only have a post on Monday night and that'll do it before I head home for the Thanksgiving. I'll probably do my Thanksgiving article tomorrow. (Not sure what that entails, but I'll think of something good.)