Jen's Birthday and My Radio Debut

What a busy weekend, followed by an equally busy week, and it's only Tuesday. G Love highlights - coming soon. Too late right now, but check out the photo links at the right.

My Internet Radio debut - Dad's college roommate Leo Haggerty has a radio show during the week from 8pm to midnight, and I get to do a weekly spot as "Chef T.J.", talking tailgate cooking and NFL football. Yes, I realize that I have zero journalism experience other than this blog (and some last minute advice from Cucc) nor do I have any formal chef training. Hopefully years of watching Mom, Grandmom, and Johnny cook and my own tailgate experiences will produce some great bits and useful recipes. Check out the show (and my first two - Old Bay Shrimp and Scallops, and Sausage and Peppers) at http://www.slrnsportsnews.com/

Other random stuff

• Pat and Kevin compete every year in the Pan Mass Challenge to raise money for cancer, and every year Pat's brother Tommy makes the news up there in Boston with his megaphone. This year was no different, as he led off the story. Love the hat and "wig" Tom.
• The Phillies Bunnies made another YouTube spot (go to the 1:15 mark)
• Glad the Mets are starting their late season collapse early this year. Go Phils.

The Storm(s)

Jesus Christ I need to stay the hell away from Key West. Seriously. We took a little trip down-island with Opre and his two cousins to see Jen's friends from UF Law school, and, well, it was pretty much like any other weekend down there. I don't know what happened to our camera (lost at Irish Kevin's on Friday night) but luckily Abbye got plenty of pictures of this motley crew. Unfortunately we lost our camera the first night so we don't have any and now we have to use the old, half broken one. We tore up Duval St. two nights in a row, hitting, among other places, Irish Kevin's and the Lazy Gecko the first night (this wasn't really a female nurse, girls!) and Schooners and Captain Tony's the second. Luckily, we did more than just bar hop (although it seems drinking was still involved at every step). Saturday we got to head out to the remote beach that's not unlike the Sandbar (and a lot unlike the Dredge) on Randy and Erica's boat (the "Reel Conch"). It was a pretty cool trip, something 98% of Key West tourists never get to see - Dad would love it. After sitting around in the water and making a few cocktails for the afternoon, we headed back in (and took the requisite jump in the canal) and headed back to the condo for sunset (and a beautiful sunset it was).

Sunday FunDay started out with breakfast at Camille's, with the special of the day, Lobster Omelet (I got the to-die-for French Toast and happily raided everyone else's omelet leftovers). Then it was Bloody Mary time at one of my favorite Key West places, The Rum Barrel. Jodi makes a mean Bloody Mary (thanks to Mark Ardire for turning me onto this at the bachelor party) and I had two (or three) while whupping Opre's butt in Golden Tee. Surprisingly, after about 40 hours of drinking, sleeping, and eating, we weren't quite done yet, and the "quick stop" didn't even end when Jodi (in the Favorite Bartender Pantheon, up there with Mitch, Greg, and Joey Eyes) had to clock out. Luckily for us she joined us on the other side of the bar for even more (plus some Rocky music and Mummers). The loooooong journey back began with a nice dinner that was partially missed by a couple of us, and a drunken car ride home, except for Jen the Responsible Wife (wow!). Needless to say I owe her big time for getting all of us home in one piece, even if it was well past midnight. Until next time, Cayo Hueso, I'll be back once I recover... and I am sure I won't have learned my lesson.

P.S. The Key West storm was way worse than the Tropical Annoyance that was Fay. All's we got was a lot of wind and rain.
P.P.S. Just to show you we can't even make it a week, Lisa's Housewarming Party was Key West in miniature, except Sunday was a lot less stressful for both of us, although not nearly as productive as we should.

The Calm Before the Storm

What better way to start a cosmically significant date in history then heading down A1A to the end of Highway 1 - Key West, estimated departure time 3pm. Scott Kirby playing at the Hog's Breath. Lobster season officially beginning with Lobsterfest. Jodi serving rum drinks for breakfast at The Rum Barrel. Sitting at Schooner's listening to Michael McCloud and watching Frank Everheart. All kinds of other misbehavior. It's going to be a good weekend... and Monday is gonna suck.

And randomly: my high school backup OLB is running for PA State Representative. The look of abject terror on Wally's face when he came in for a down as a sophmore (my senior year) was a sight i'll never forget, but he turned into a decent player and apparently a pretty damn good lawyer. Vote for Wally!

More House Construction

What a weekend for the house ... LOTS of work. The LR went from a livable area to a recreation of the E.T. house with all the plastic I had up, and went from a plastered drywall to sanded, primed, painted, and ready to be a real living room, FINALLY!! (not to mention it's a major upgrade from the wood paneling and fireplace). It looks a ton better in here with the majority of the room painted, even though we still have baseboards, crown, etc... to do. The interior door casing got the ax too, which was pretty easy since the termites did most of the work.

At the very least we can finally clean out the stuff in the Florida room so we can hit the ceiling in there next and get this living area livable. And now that the major work is done in the main areas, hopefully we'll see the terrazzo restoration we got done. We also went through all 2,100 wedding pictures and somehow narrowed it down to 220-something. House construction pictures here.

Sunday, Julie called to "stop by" tonight, and 3+ hours, a bunch of beers, and a bottle (or two) of wine later, Jen and her have now gotten Jen onto Facebook and harassed everyone on the internet. Julie knocked Zoe in the head coming inside, Jen took a fall on the (refinished!) terrazzo but saved her drink, and I got to witness this in the newly painted living room watching the Phils on ESPN (the Flyin' Hawaiian coming up big). It's been entertaining to say the least, but after working all day painting, ripping out the interior casings (that had been termite food prior to us getting it tented), and just making the place livable, it was nice to relax on a Sunday night with some shrimp, scallops, lobster, wine, and Phils baseball.

Now back to the grind of the real world - at least now we have the semblance of a livable abode!