It's 5 O'clock Somewhere...

Baby Pool!!!

2010-02-17T07:47:00.002-05:00

We’re at T-minus 4 weeks as of midnight on Wednesday, so to warm everyone up for March Madness, we’ve got our own version here. Pick the date and time, gender, weight, and length, and win a TBD surprise from the Sharpes and bragging rights forever.

http://www.expectnet.com/index.php?t=0

In the upper left corner there’s a box that says Invited Guests. Enter in BabySharpieMarch17 (all one word) and it’ll take you to the game page; click on Enter a Guess on the right hand side and you’ll get the entry screen.

Scoring (fewest points wins)
Wrong gender: 50 points
Birth date: 1 points / hour
Weight: 10 points / ounce
Length: 10 points / inch

Anyone who wants to cannonball this with Dad’s annual NCAA basketball pool and make this a gambling thing, by all means take the bull by the horns (Rogish, Seamus…) and get it going. I’ve got too much baby stuff to do to coordinate you degenerates right now, but will gladly participate.

Cast your vote!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year/2009 in Review

2009-12-24T10:14:00.018-05:00

DISCLOSURE - this is a LOT of reading... get comfy! UPDATED - fixed broken links in the last few paragraphs

We rang in 2009 at the Steel's, after a lovely cruise to dinner at Blue Moon Fish Co. closed out 2008, and a night of hanging out with good friends, champagne toasts, funny hats, and midnight kisses. 2009 started early, with the Penn State Rose Bowl game at the Parrot. As ugly as that game got, we did see a team in blue (and orange) show up to play a few days later at Fred and Doreen's, with Fred making mad celebration dashes around the neighborhood sans both blue and orange. We also got to do a little wine tasting with the FSU'ers during the extended weekend.

A few weeks later, there were Sharpes all over Orlando as Mom and Dad met Jen and I there (Jen had a conference all week there), and Uncle Jerry, Aunt Gwen, Bob and Trev all were there for a visit to Disney. We picked up Mom Mom and Pop Pop and the ten of us did the Magic Kingdom all day - thanks Stacie for getting us in!! A couple of Disney hints - having a really good friend work at Disney is a great start, having a Mom-guide (well in our case, an Aunt-guide) who has the whole Disney thing down is great for avoiding lines as much as possible, and having a wheelchaired Pop Pop helps skirt those lines even further. It was a great day and night with all the Sharpes; Jen and I and Mom and Dad got to do a bit of Epcot too (it was their first trip to Disney since Jason and I were kids), they loved it. Dad particularly liked the Mickey-tron 3D thing or whatever it's called, we also had a good time just sitting at Epcot, watching the light show and listening to a Beatles band outside the U.K. outpost. I'm sure there's going to be many more Disney trips for the Sharpes soon... Dad also turned the local Ale House into the official Sharpe Eagles HQ for watching the NFC Championship game, but the wrong Birds won. It was a great to spend the weekend with my Godfather and my cousins (and of course you too Aunt Gwen!!) and getting to have Mom Mom and Pop Pop join us for everything made it even better.

The one sad note from an otherwise great family weekend is that we returned home to an empty house. While Jen was at her conference, her black Lab Zoe passed away. Many of you know just how much Zoe meant to Jen, that doggie has been through thick and thin for 13 years by Jen's side. So returning home from Orlando and not having Zoe there to greet us was tough.

February started a busy travel month for both of us. We had our first semi-big party at 1601 for the Super Bowl, with a couple TVs and a couple dozen people hanging out for the game. More on big parties at 1601 in a few... I found out towards the end of 2008 that I was likely losing my job sometime in the next year+; Republic Services had bought another company but was moving their Corp headquarters to Phoenix, AZ, and the choices were either to transfer out to the desert or stay for the integration and eventually get let go. So, we're staying in FL but because of the integration, there was lots of travel on the horizon for 2009. I got to head to Philly for Tracey's shower (unfortunately Jen got sick right before the trip and had to miss it), then went right to Detroit and got to see the Pfeiffers who made the trip up from Toledo to catch a Pistons game with me.

From there, it was right out to PHX and Valentine's weekend in the desert. Jen flew from FL and we had a great weekend in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area, going hiking with Aunt Jackie on Saturday afternoon and dinner with her and Uncle Steve on Saturday night. Sunday, Jen surprised me with a hot air balloon ride through the entire valley. It was pretty cool (and it was pretty "cool" too, especially that early in the morning and only having a 3/4 sleeve shirt!) and definitely something I'd want to do again. Funniest moment had to be when the balloon pilot ever-so-silently lowered us to maybe 20 feet about the roof lines, and we passed one house where a guy was sitting outside stark naked. He didn't see us until we were (literally) right on top of him, causing a mad scramble for the sliding glass door. It was a fun weekend, but Jen eventually had to go back to FL and I had to actually work out there in Phoenix. I was also able to connect with some old CMU friends out there, was great to see Haley, EJ, Howie, Shannon & Mike, etc...

After a brief 48 hour layover in FL after Phoenix (and a Doreen and Fred engagement party), it was back on the road, this time to Dallas. Got to see the new stadium, it's ridiculously big in person, like some spaceship in the middle of nowhere. I'll have to get back there for a fall weekend one of these days. A few weeks at home, then back on the road for a two week stretch in LA. Jen came out for the weekend in between, and we did another fun weekend on West Coast time. Friday we did some work then had some good seafood and drinks along the PCH, eventually ending up at Duke's in Malibu Beach for Friday happy hour. From there it was back to Redondo Beach and dinner with a couple of Jen's friends. Saturday was more of the same... got to see my CMU buddies as Avi and Dirty Ray made the trip up from San Diego, and Goldi and Seema took us out in Newport Beach and gave us a little tour of the Orange County area. LAter that night, we met up with some of the West Coast Eustace boys - it was Pat Hogan's birthday and Carmen came down for the night. (I was able to hit the birthday celebrations of two of the four Hogans this year, 2010 we're going for at least a trifecta)

Our best trip, though, was the first weekend in April, when we went up to NJ to see our newborn nephew!! Tyler Jason Sharpe was born on April 2nd, and we got there a day later and got to see him on Saturday and Sunday. Tracey had a loooong delivery, and wasn't able to do much but rest, so Jason got a trial by fire introduction to parenting 101 (he passed with flying colors!). More on just how cute Tyler is in a bit, the first weekend was all about seeing the little bundle of joy wrapped up in his Ewok-like outfit. It was great to be there for Tyler's first days (almost made the ensuing trip to Houston for work bearable) and we couldn't wait to see him again.

Easter weekend, I flew into Orlando and met Jen there for a day and night with Stacie and Matt. I had my first experience with Muay Thai, a killer 2-hour workout that hit muscles I forgot existed. Unfortunately it's been the only Muay Thai (or pretty much any other) workout I've done. I can see 2010 resolutions forming already... From Orlando - and after a quick pitstop to see Mom Mom and Pop Pop for lunch, AND meet with someone who was going to buy Jen's Land Rover - we went to Tampa on Saturday to stay with Matt and Kelly, and Lyn, Luke and Grandpa all came over. We had a great dinner and an even better brunch Easter Sunday. The Land Rover got left in Indian Rocks Beach for the buyer, so a rental car got us as far as Naples, where Taryn and Mark were staying with the Cucinotta's. We had a great night catching up with them, and crashed there to get up early for the drive across Alligator Alley to work. We also got to "Trash the Dress" on the beach in Dania in April.

At this point you're probably thinking "well that has to be the last they traveled all year". Of course, you'd be wrong... After a full week "off" (as in, in FL working in the office) it was back out for a quick trip to Atlanta. I try and see someone I know in each location I went to, so while in ATL I got to go to dinner on consecutive nights with my co-worker Kim and our friend Jim from FSU. Luckily, this was a quick trip, since once I got home, I had to pack yet again...

... for a quick weekend anniversary cruise out of Fort Lauderdale!! There's a lot of cruise lines that do the Fri-Mon cruise, where you leave port Friday around 5pm and wake up Monday morning right back where you started. They are great for quick weekend trips, and Jen's family has been taking them for years - but always out of Miami. I found a "deal" for one out of Fort Lauderdale, and we had a great time, but it was a deal for a reason. The ship wasn't nearly as big or nice, and since it had been a passenger ferry somewhere in Europe in its previous life, you could definitely feel it rocking waaaaay more than a normal cruise ship. It was nice to leave out of Port Everglades though since it's so close, we even passed Grandpa's condo on the way out and could see all the special things from our wedding weekend one year ago, like St. Sebastian and Pier 66. The cruise was fun, we had a day in Nassau to wander around - and take a looooong hike from the port all the way to Atlantis and back, stopping for lunch on the water.

The fun continues into May. The weekend after the cruise, it was time to go camping in the Florida Keys. Jen and I headed down to Long Key State Park, between Islamorada and Marathon, Friday night for two nights, and were joined the next day by Mom and Dad. It was a nice, relaxing weekend in the Keys, scuba diving (Jen's first foray back underwater in nearly a year, since Tahiti), grilling out, and just spending some time unwinding in Monroe County. The timing worked out perfectly, on our way up Sunday, we grabbed a couple dozen stone crabs and a cooler full of drinks, and headed to a Jim Morris show at a golf course in Miami. It was a little more "laid back" than most Morris shows we're used to, but after Jen told Jim it was my 34th birthday, not only did he do Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother (containing the line "he's 34 and drinkin' in a Honky Tonk", a favorite of Mom's and mine) but he played, and explained the start of the Morris Sangria Wine tradition back in 2003 in Delaware. (not the same day, but yea that's me at the 1:50 mark from 2006 MOTM) It was a great afternoon, Jen's co-workers came so we had a nice little group having way more fun than anyone else there. Like usual, I suppose.

After a trip to Chicago (and a couple of fun nights, one with Mark and another with Steve and AW; God I have too much of a good time in that city) May was somewhat tame until Memorial Day. Our buddy Scott is getting married on Sunset Key, across from Mallory Square in Key West, in February 2010. Like a good friend, I "volunteered" to assist on a wedding prep mission with him to Cayo Hueso. The recurring theme of "had a great weekend" was appropriate here too. Scott, Keith, and I got just about all the wedding planning done by Saturday afternoon, leaving too much idle time for us to have fun. Got to watch a couple of Phils-Yankees games at the Rum Barrel (and witness a Mets fan get stuck with a $900 credit card roulette bill, serves him right), checking out Emily's Toybox at Sloppy's, hanging with Sam and Zach, and generally keeping ourselves on the outskirts of trouble without ever getting fully into it. Meanwhile, Jen was busy in Fort Lauderdale, heading out on the boat and hanging with the FSU girls. After Memorial Day, things wound down a bit for a month, lots of work on the house (new casement windows, bamboo floor in the Florida room, garage, etc...) and a bit of golf, first with Hogan & Steve and their buddies, then with the PSU Alumni.

Our big summer adventure was a road trip from FL to NJ. A $1/day rental car got us started on Thursday in style, heading up to Orlando to see Matt and Stacie. Friday we got some time in the partial rain at MGM, eventually meeting up with the Montgomerys/Lamons for a few hours before getting on the road to Tybee Island, GA, and the Williams family!! We got to spend a great weekend in Tybee with Carolyn and Gay and the kids, and also with Amanda and Connor. Tybee, a small island at the mouth of the Savannah River with a view of Hilton Head, SC, is such a fun little place to go, and the Williams have a great house withing walking distance to the beach. Jen and I had a great time and definitely see plenty of Tybee trips in our future!

Unfortunately our time in Tybee had to end, but we headed north and made landfall in Richmond on Monday night and got to spend some time with Josh and Po. They're renovating an ooooold house in Richmond, so we were right at home with the construction. It was nice to see them, since we hadn't seen them other than our wedding and their wedding in the last couple of years. The Rogish's were out of town, but that didn't stop us from swinging by and leaving WaWa stuff all over their house and some Go Phillies messages in soap on their SUV. (Unfortunately rain washed it away before Jackson & Co. could see my work of window art). After "our" shenanigans, it was further up 95 into VA. We got to Fairfax Co. and hopped on the Metro into DC and did a mini-walking tour of the Mall for a few hours, stopping to see the WWII monument. Both Jen's Grandpa and my Pop Pop served in the war, so it was really neat to see the monument. We eventually headed back to Herdon, VA and Christine's place, for a little midweek get-together BBQ. Luckily CHab is as social as we are, and always up for mixing different groups of people, so we had CMU friends (with kids, too - quite different from our Hoboken days!), CHab's work friends, our DC Parrothead friends (and second Connor toddler of the trip), and... Seamus, a man who defies conventional categorization. :) It was a fun night catching up with everyone, and Jen and I appreciated the folks making the effort to come to us while we were passing through town. And, of course, all the time CHab put into getting the food, hosting, etc... thanks Christine!!

The fun wasn't yet done, though. Since we were passing *right* past Camden Yards and the O's were playing a day game, we decided that would be our final stop before NJ. Steve and Drew met us there with Seamus, and my three cousins drove down from Jersey for the game. Jen and I walked around the Inner Harbor for a bit - still a great place - and then met everyone at Sliders before heading in. Afterwards, we "let the traffic die down a bit" at Sliders again (Drew was the entertainment) before finally embarking on the final leg of our journey. So, Wednesday evening, after six days, 1,000+ miles, five stops, four different beds, and many great times with several dozen family and friends along the way, we crossed the bridged to the Jersey side. We got to see Tyler and the rest of the family (and Kinja) for dinner at Jay & Tracey's and crashed in Cherry Hill that night. Thursday, Dad took Jen on a Philly tour of hoagie shops for our own little Best of Philly Hoagie contest, while I spent some good QT with my Godfather, Bob and Trev on the golf course before heading down the Shore for the rest of the weekend and our final stop, 28 Poynte Drive. It was a typical Poynte weekend, with lots of hoagies, lots of family Tiki Bar time, washers, Tyler, crazy neighbors and cousins in for the weekend, a failed boating trip, more Tyler, and finally, a sunset on a fantastic 11 day trip up the East Coast. It was an adventure, and we had so much fun with everyone who was gracious enough to open their homes and/or contribute to the many great memories we made on our adventure.

Luckily, we were a bit better about updating the blog in the 2nd half of the year, things died down somewhat (at least on the travel front) the latter half of the year. Since I am getting tired of typing, here's a somewhat briefer version of the rest of the summer and the fall - some of the links go to blog entries:

* WE'RE PREGNANT!! Baby Pictures!!!
* Jen's night at the W and telling all of her friends
* Tyler's Baptism and telling the family we've got one on the way
* The first annual Sharpe Summer Splash... Taken inspiration from the BaratBashes that Avi has hosted for years, we started this out as a small BBQ and ended up with a blow-up water slide that was live video streamed on ustream.com. Plenty of stories out of that one too (including Jay feeding Tyler at midnight watching our beer pong games in FL)
* Trevor and Shannon get engaged!!! Trev had a big surprise birthday party for her at their house, it was a ton of fun. He made a "highlight" video and at the end, popped the question.
* O.A.R. in Pompano Beach with Caniz, Lehman, and Rick visiting from Philly. Another looooooooong weekend. Also, Jen's first concert pregnant, which we ran into her Ob-Gyn in the parking lot after the show (he was feeling as good as the rest of us, except Jen). Oddly interesting. Jen and I also got to hit a Springsteen show in Sunrise with Sam and Zach. BBBBRRRUUUUCEEEEE!
* Tommy and Heather Franklin get married in Philly, leaving only one more chance for the Franklin/Sharpe kids to have a blowout wedding party like the other four. Always fun those Franklin and Sharpe events.
* A couple of Dolphins and Phillies games at LandShark Stadium, including halftime on the field for Parrothead night for the Dolphins. The halftime show was lame (no Jimmy) but we got run around on the field like kids for about 10 minutes. Their grass kinda sucks, we played on better at Cherokee.
* Fred's bachelor party in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. What a ridiculously fun time. From finding some dirt bar off the beaten path in the back streets of the French Quarter, to (poorly) riding a mechanical bull, to the thousands of Gators fans that descended on the Crescent City, to an unbelievable tailgate and game day experience, this weekend had it all. If you're a college football fan and you've never seen a game in Baton Rouge, go - especially when it's two top-1o teams. Just a great, great trip. And when the bachelor has to make a run to the emergency room on Sunday morning, you know it was a proper send off (luckily it was only for scratching his eye on a tree branch and cleared up a few days later).
* Jen and the gals in the Dominic Republic for Doreen's bachelorette party. Quite a good time was had by the ladies, including Cheryl and her wheelchair and crutches.
* An absurdly long, fun, draining weekend in Philly to close out the Spectrum with Pearl Jam. Caniz and I hit the last two Spectrum shows there, tailgating in the same spot two days in a row, got to catch a Flyers game Saturday morning, and then got Phillies-Yankees Game 4 standing room only tickets. There was about a dozen "what a great weekend" moments, and had the Feliz HR turned the tide we might have very well crowned that weekend the best ever (we still may), but it was still one of the best we've had. Go search for the highlights on YouTube, including PJ covering Divo on Halloween in full Divo get-up. Got to see Lehman, both Schultz brothers and Jay, Uncle Jerry and Bob, and oh yea got a couple of Flyers HOF'ers to tailgate with us (OK, OK, so they were there to see Brett and Chad, it was still pretty cool). This weekend should have been it's own blog post, I could probably write about it for another 10 paragraphs and not cover everything.
* MOTM 2009 - we were going with Mom and Dad, then they had to cancel last minute so we did too, then Saturday morning we decided what the heck, let's take a trip down. Had to talk our way into Tom and Estelle's passes (since we didn't register) and got out to the Saturday Beach Show just in time to bring in the Sangria Wine. Also got some decent Rum Barrel time - especially for the Cowboys W over the Iggles - and had a fun day on Sunday with Joe, Candy, Krissy, and the rest of the gang at Captain Tony's. Plus, Dale Aiken finally paid off a two year old bet and wore a Lindros jersey all day. We stayed at the Rum Barrel for the first half of the Cowboys game, then got the rest of the Morris No Plane on Sunday party that night. Always a good time down there on Duval (even though we really didn't hit Duval at all...)
* Took a Grandpa Bahamas cruise to Nassau and Coco Cay (Royal Caribbean's island) - it was originally supposed to be a big family cruise, but due to various constraints it ended up being Jen and I, the brothers Facarazzo, Mike's buddy Spencer, Cheryl, Gary, and Gary's daughters, and Grandpa. A motley crew, to say the least! After a very tame first night (all that work - and fun - travel finally caught up to me), we hit the private island on Saturday and then Nassau and Atlantis on Sunday. We tried to get into the pool area of Atlantis (without paying the $80 pp), but Jen, Cheryl, Gary and the kids got snagged... and the Jersey boy walked in unscathed. Unfortunately I couldn't find a way to get the rest of them back in, so after taking in the sights (it's pretty damn cool out there) we all met up and walked back to the ship. A third full evening of stuffing ourselves at dinner and winning some money at single-handed blackjack and the fun was over.
* Lyn and Luke get married!! Doreen and Fred get married!!!
* Thanksgiving in NJ - and our last trip home for awhile. Thanksgiving morning, the annual Turkey Bowl beatdown of the Gee's with some timely TDs and INTs and post-game ball busting. Thanksgiving night was plenty of turkey (and some duck), even those who weren't quite ready for big-people food yet. Friday was for sleeping in and making Turkey Soup, but first, Dad, Jen and I went and picked up some of my great-grandfather's stuff - his original passport from Ireland, his immigration papers, etc... It was REALLY great to see the original Thomas Sharpe's journey from County Cavan (in the native tongue, Contae an Chabháin) to America. Kinda made our "journey" up 95 a little less epic. Friday night, we picked up Martin in Philly, then had a bunch of people over Mom and Dad's - the Franklins, the Holmes and Ninja, Jen's friends Gerry and Paul and their adorable little guy Dexter, and, thanks to Pat Franklin, some duck heads. It was a great night with family and friends. Saturday we relaxed and shopped and after quite a few missteps in getting going, Jen and I got to give our Christmas presents to our family - tickets to see Jersey Boys on Broadway!! We got a big limo bus up there (eventually) and even though traffic caused us to miss the first third of the show, it was still a great, great night. Jen and I had seen the national tour down in Fort Lauderdale, know my entire family would love it. Despite the slight travel challenges we had, it turned out to be a great night. It was something we had planned for a long time - knowing 2010 will be a life-changing year that won't allow us to make as many trips to NJ, we wanted to do something special for the Sharpe family. Like many other evenings in 2009, it left us all saying "Oh what a night!"

How College Football Should Be

2009-10-11T03:04:00.002-04:00

I'll be the first one to admit there's an occasional Jersey attitude that emanates from me. It usually involves a faux confrontation and we all laugh it off.... sort of probably. that is just how it is from philly, you're either with us (phils) or against us (dallas)

that confrontational mind set was ridiculed today. I've never seen so many people who went out of their way - and they did go out of their way, almost to an embassing fault - to make 4 guys from FL feel at home. We didn't go but a block or so before an LSU fan came over and insisted we have some "Gator Burgers". And we couldn't get away from the southern hospitality. We actually left a 24 pack and a bottle of vodka unchecked at someone's tailgate, because she said she would watch it for us. not only did she watch it, she made sure we got it back - AFTER THE GAME. i dunno, it's been a long weekend and maybe i am romanticizing Baton Rouge, but this was bar none the best football watching experience I've ever had. I can't stop gushing about how welcoming the LSU fans were. I hope one day my kid(s) get to see that - it's football at it"s very finest. Tiger fans, you have my utmost respect. You were one hell of a host today, and even in defeat, you cared more about how your guests from the sunshine state were treated than how well your team did. (ok maybe it's the same.... but still)

i'll post pics from the tailgate soon, it;s like nothing you've ever seen. I promise you. I thought the PSU tailgate was America's best, but this put it to shame, and for me to say that about my team is a lot. Put Baton Rouge on your bucket list; it was bleepin awesome. If the world was as friendly as an LSU tailgate, we'd have a lot less problems. thanks my new Cajun friends, and Gauex Tigers.

Tyler's Baptism & Telling Nonna and Pappy

2009-09-17T06:40:00.001-04:00

Luckily, we had this trip planned to go up to New Jersey so we could tell Mom and Dad Sharpe in person that we were having a baby! Otherwise, we may not have seen them until September (for Tommy Franklin’s wedding) or November (for Meeting of the Minds) so this trip was just perfect! Since we were flying into Philly so late at night (we were supposed to arrive in Philly at 10:45pm), our plan was to head to Lehman’s apartment to hang out with him and his girlfriend, Steph, and spend the night there. We ended up not getting in until after midnight and finally arrived at Lehman’s apartment at almost 1am. They were troopers and stayed up with us for a couple of hours, but eventually we had to go to sleep. It was great to meet Steph, don’t screw it up, Lehman!

We got up early and headed to meet our friends, Gerrie, Paul and Dex for brunch. We were in for such a treat, Gerrie is a chef and went all out for an amazing brunch. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them for the morning, and Gerrie and Paul gave us lots of pointers on staying sane during the pregnancy. Gerrie also gave me “Belly Laughs” by Jenny McCarthy which is hysterical so far. And Dexter couldn’t be cuter – if I wasn’t already pregnant, I would really want to be after that morning, he is the sweetest, happiest baby and you just want to love on him all day. But of course, we had to go, so we headed to T.J.’s parents house.

On the way, we debated as how we should tell mom and dad about the pregnancy. It was Mom’s birthday yesterday, so we bought a birthday card for “Grandma” and signed it from “the baby”, but we couldn’t figure out when to give it to them. We had early dinner plans at Maggianos for the seven of us (Jay, Tracey, Mom, Dad, me, T.J. and Tyler) but we hadn’t quite worked out when we would give Mom her gifts.

When we got to Mom and Dad’s house, they were hanging at the pool with Mom Mom and Pop Pop. Mom Mom and Pop Pop were heading out that night with a lot of the Sharpes to see Mark Cucinotta’s dinner theater rendition of Dirty Dancing, so we wanted to wait to tell the 'rents after Mom Mom and Pop Pop left because we weren't sure when to tell the extended family. We had to work fast, because if I wasn’t drinking, our charade would be up quickly. Dad had already given me a dirty martini as I was getting ready (poor T.J. drank it for me) so we knew we had to do it pretty soon after we sat down for dinner.

Of course, we were in a rush to get out the door and make the dinner reservation, so T.J. had the great idea of giving Mom her presents at the restaurant. One of the gifts was a wine glass, so when Dad told T.J. just to leave the presents in the car for after dinner, T.J. thought quickly and said that he wanted to give Mom the wine glass for her to use during dinner. Giving Mom the gifts was a little awkward, it is a family style restaurant, so there were a lot of servers at and around our table, bringing the wine, bread and appetizers. Also, Mom missed seeing the card in the bag, so T.J. had to dig it out for her. The card said something like "Happy Birthday Grandma" on the front, and inside I wrote "Looking forward to meeting you on March 17, 2010 even though i love you already Nonna! Love, Grandchild #2 on the way!" :)

She was speechless and they were so excited. T.J. actually got it on video, it is too cute. Dad was crying and hugging the waiter and everything, and of course Jason and Tracey were excited for us too. It was awesome, all of us were pretty happy! Of course, soon after came the complaints about us living so far away in Flaw-rida LOL

Sunday, we got up early and headed to Tracey and Jason’s to get some pictures of Tyler before the baptism. We bought a picture frame as one of Tyler’s gifts, so I really wanted to get a great picture of TJ and Tyler for the frame. Tyler is adorable to begin with, but that day he was the happiest I’ve ever seen him, he was smiling ear to ear and just awesome. I got the greatest pictures, and couldn’t decide when the time came to pick one for the frame, so we printed them all.

Church went really well, Tyler was so good, like he knew it was his very special day and he was just perfect. T.J. did great in his Godfather role, though a practice run wouldn’t have hurt. We headed to lunch at a great Italian restaurant, and Tracey was so sweet to bring alcohol free wine for me to drink at the lunch. T.J. and I had debated about telling all of the family of the pregnancy (I was just shy of 6 weeks at this point), but it seemed like the right thing to do with so much of our family in the same spot, so we decided to wait until the end of the luncheon to start telling the family - even though a couple of T.J.'s cousins already knew (their maternal instincts must have kicked in, or they noticed that wine). Everyone was so excited for us, it was so wonderful to be able to share it with everyone in person. Overall, it was another wonderful weekend! Although I don’t recommend the alcohol-free wine, I’ll stick to club soda with lime, thank you!

9/11 - Eight years later, a remembrance

2009-09-11T07:51:00.004-04:00

Eight years ago already? It's hard to believe it's been that long. That Tuesday was one never to be forgotten, especially to those of us living in and around NYC. At first, it was an unknown novelty, Ali coming downstairs at our place and saying "A plane just hit the World Trade Center!" My reaction? "Wow, no shit, that's kinda neat", thinking one of the many tourist planes had mistakenly veered far off track. Still not the most compassionate of reactions, I know, but hey, it's just another odd occurrence in the world's most interesting city, right? Yea, we had no idea...

Ali and I turned on the TV about 2 minutes before the 2nd plane hit. One look at the fire from the first impact, and my novelty idea was quickly subdued. Something bad had happened. We saw the 2nd impact live on TV, about 2 miles away as the crow flies from our living room in Hoboken. The talking heads on Channel 2 were still debating the first incident - was it a plane, a bomb, a helicopter, etc... when everyone saw what happened next. A 767 loaded with innocent people and combustible jet fuel barreled into the South Tower. Innocence vanished. A feeling on safety was gone, replaced by an all-too-real sense of vulnerability. Lives were lost... luckily, no one I knew well, but many friends would not be able to say the same when they woke up Wednesday.

Somehow, I got a call out to my Dad letting him know I was OK (riding my bike over to my office in Jersey City, watching the towers burn the entire way) and Jody got a call into Ali, probably the only two we were able to make before sundown. Jody's was the call that broke the news of the 4th crash to us, which hit nearly as close to home - Shanksville, where his parents' lakefront cabin was located, a quiet town of 245 permanent residents in the hills of southwestern PA, was the final resting place of the heros of Flight 93. At that moment, nothing seemed safe.

In the hours and days and weeks to come, the gravity of the attacks sunk into you, something you couldn't just scrub off in the shower. Everyone I knew in the area was affected. Ali and I made a list of those we knew that may have been in the WTC area, and started walking around Hoboken ringing door bells. Somehow, we crossed almost every name off the list in just two mile-long laps around the town; guys I worked with like Posty and Tony just happened to drive by us, or someone she knew we ran into at the park, watching what was now a solo tower burn, and that person had talked to another one, who knew that these other people were safe, and so on. The stories started to come out as those closest to the towers began to return to Hoboken, dust covering their suits, a dazed, rattled look on their face, unsure of what the hell just happened and just how close they'd been to the afterlife.

One of my best friends - Ninja - finally made it home, with a heartwrenching story of helping a fire fighter try and locate his mother amidst the panic in the area that is now known as Ground Zero. Another good friend - Lori - I had convinced to take the WTC train in from Hoboken that morning, rather than try and drive to her meeting on Wall St. from Fort Lee. She *should* have been well clear of the Trade Centers before her 8:30 meeting, but I didn't know until Ali and I pit-stopped at 90 Grand between laps, and she (and a coworker) popped out of our living room, startling the shit out of us. Never have been happier to have my heart nearly stop. In retrospect, my occasional laziness may have saved me, since I was going to head over on the WTC train with her to do some quick Christmas shopping for my Dad that morning, and would have been in the building across the street when the planes hit. Thank God I valued some extra sleep over a $20 Century 21 gift card that was about to expire.

Hoboken lost more people to 9/11 than anywhere else, save NYC. Something changed that day to our little yuppie bar town. Fliers for missing Marsh McLennan employees were posted on lightpoles. A makeshift memorial at the tip of Sinatra Pier appeared, with an empty Financial District skyline in the background. Cars collected tickets until someone put 2 and 2 together. Ruins smoldered, and trucks carted away 220 stories of more than just metal. Friends gathered, watching the coverage. Mark and I went to Manhattan the next day to try and do something - anything - to help. There was nothing to be done. The Red Cross blood donation line was 3 hours long, and, as it turns out, fairly useless to those directly impacted the day before. Ambulances lined the West Side Highway, waiting in vain for survivors to be miraculously pulled from the wreckage. The city was eerily quiet, like someone had taken the hustle and bustle and madness and transplanted it to a location far, far away. There were almost no cars in the streets, and nearly everyone who passed by had the same solemn look.

The feeling of helplessness was pervasive - indeed, if there was one word to describe that entire experience, it would be helpless. Helpless to stop the attacks, helpless to keep the Towers upright, helpless to rescue those that clung to the outside of the Tower, ninety stories above the ground but only a few dozen feet over a roaring, impassible inferno. We tried to get to Manhattan on Tuesday, to do *something*, but by the time they opened up limited train and ferry service on Wednesday, the only thing left to do was pray.

Eight years later, we are still praying, for the lives of those we lost that day, for the brave men and women from the FDNY and the NYPD, for those whose lives still go on with a daily reminder that a loved one isn't coming home again tonight, for nearly the 3,000th time in a row. For all of those, and for the millions of lives that have been affected in the 9/11 aftermath, we continue to pray, for you, for the ones you love, and for a better world, so that something good might silver line this date for years to come.

Tyler's Baptism Weekend

2009-09-06T23:56:00.003-04:00

July 17, 2009 – Tyler’s Baptism and telling Nonna and Pappy that Grandchild #2 is on the way!
Luckily, we had this trip planned to go up to New Jersey so we could tell mom and dad Sharpe in person that we were having a baby! Otherwise, we may not have seen them until September (for Tommy Franklin’s wedding) or November (for Meeting of the Minds) so this trip was just perfect!

Since we were flying into Philly so late at night (we were supposed to arrive in Philly at 10:45pm) our plan was to head to Lehman’s apartment to hang out with him and his girlfriend, Steph, and spend the night there. We ended up not getting in until after midnight and finally arrived at Lehman’s apartment at almost 1am. They were troopers and stayed up with us for a couple of hours, but eventually we had to go to sleep. It was great to meet Steph, don’t screw it up, Lehman! :)

We got up early Saturday and headed to meet our friends, Gerrie, Paul and Dex for brunch. We were in for such a treat, Gerrie is a chef and went all out for an amazing brunch. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them for the morning, and Gerrie and Paul gave us lots of pointers on staying sane during the pregnancy. And Dexter couldn’t be cuter – if I wasn’t already pregnant, I would really want to be after that morning, he is the sweetest, happiest baby and you just want to love on him all day. But of course, we had to go, so we headed to T.J.’s parents house.

On the way, we debated as how we should tell Mom and Dad about the pregnancy. It was Mom’s birthday yesterday, so we bought a birthday card for “grandma” and signed it from “the baby”, but we couldn’t figure out when to give it to them. We had early dinner plans at Maggianos for the seven of us (Jay, Tracey, Mom, Dad, me, TJ and Tyler) but we hadn’t quite worked out when we would give mom her gifts.

When we got to Mom and Dad’s house, they were hanging at the pool with Mom Mom and Pop Pop. Mom Mom and Pop Pop were heading out that night with a lot of the Sharpes to see cousin Mark’s dinner theater rendition of Dirty Dancing, so we wanted to wait to tell Mom and Dad after Mom Mom and Pop Pop left because we hadn’t decided if we should tell the extended family or not yet. But we had to work fast, because if I wasn’t drinking, our charade would be up. Dad had already given me a dirty martini as I was getting ready (poor T.J. drank it for me!) so we knew we had to do it pretty soon after we sat down for dinner.

Of course, we were in a rush to get out the door and make the dinner reservation, so TJ had the great idea of giving Mom her presents at the restaurant. One of the gifts was a wine glass, so when Dad told T.J. just to leave the presents in the car for after dinner, T.J. thought quickly and said that he wanted to give mom the wine glass for her to drink out of during dinner.
Giving mom the gifts was a little awkward, it is a family style restaurant, so there were a lot of servers at and around our table, bringing the wine, bread and appetizers, so there was a bit of commotion. Also, mom missed the card, so TJ had to dig it out for her. The card said something like "happy birthday grandma" on the front and inside i wrote "Looking forward to meeting you on March 17, 2010 even though i love you already nonna!" love your grandchild #2 on the way!" :)

She was speechless and they were so excited. TJ actually got it on video, it is too cute. Dad was crying and hugging the waiter and everything and of course Jason and Tracey were excited for us too. it was awesome! :)

Sunday, we got up early and headed to Tracey and Jason’s to get some pictures of Tyler before the baptism. We bought a picture frame as one of Tyler’s gifts, so I really wanted to get a great picture of T.J. and Tyler for the frame. Tyler is adorable to begin with, but that day he was the happiest I’ve ever seen him, he was smiling ear to ear and just awesome. I got the greatest pictures, and couldn’t decide when the time came to pick one for the frame, so we printed them all. :)

Church went really well, Tyler was so good, like he knew it was his very special day and he was just perfect. T.J. did great in his godfather role, though a practice run wouldn’t have hurt. We headed to lunch at a delicious Italian restaurant and Tracey was so sweet to bring alcohol free wine for me to drink at the lunch. T.J. and I had debated about telling all of the family of the pregnancy (I was just shy of 6 weeks at this point), but it seemed like the right thing to do with so much of our family in the same spot, so we decided to wait until the end of the luncheon to start telling the family. Everyone was so excited for us, it was so wonderful to be able to share it with everyone in person. Overall, it was another wonderful weekend! Although I don’t recommend the alcohol-free wine, I’ll stick to club soda with lime, thank you!

Lots of Updates

2009-08-06T07:46:00.000-04:00

So much for updating this regularly... we're not exactly getting stuff up on a regular basis. Maybe once a season instead... ugh. Quick update on the summer, working forward from the Spring...

Got to take a cruise for our anniversary in April. Was quick and easy, left work at 2 on Friday and was back (unfortunately) by 10 on Monday. It was relaxing and fun, did some wandering around Nassau town and over to the Atlantis. One day when we're not putting all our dough into this house and other assorted debts, we'll get over there and not have to sneak onto Paradise Island.
Went camping in the Keys for my 34th birthday - Mom and Dad came down for the weekend, and on Sunday on the way back, we caught Jim Morris playing in Doral for the Miami PHC. For all those who have attended a Morris show with us, you know the deal - among the drinking songs (Sangria Wine) and the tropical songs (Laid Back and Key Wasted) there's another Jerry Jeff Walker/Ray Wiley Hubbard song that gets played. "Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother" wasn't exactly written for Mom and I, but I think she uses it as a chance to give me the Italian Mother Pointer Finger. One line did fit the weekend perfect - "he's 34 and drinking in a honkey tonk" - but I suppose it's been about a ten year build up of seeing Jim's shows with my parents, so there was no way we could miss a show in our own backyard the day after the 34th anniversary of May 2, 1975.
We had a looooooooong road trip - 1,200 miles or so - all the way up 95 from exit 27 in Fort Lauderdale to exit 30 off the Garden State Parkway in Somers Point. There's no way to recap it all (hopefully a future blog post w/pics, likely months after the fact) but here's the highlights:
* A night in Orlando with the Covingtons, followed by a day at MGM with the Montgomery's and Lamons
* Friday to Sunday at Tybee Island with the Williams family and Amanda and Conner. They have a fantastic "little" place on this little barrier island 30 minutes east of Savannah. We had a a great time at their beach house, which also could be its own blog. We'll be back there soon.
* We drove our longest leg on Monday afternoon, 7 hours from Tybee to Richmond, and got to spend a night with Po and Josh.
* A quick jaunt up from Richmond and we were in Norther Va - hopped on the Metro for a half-day in DC (WWII Monument was great to see) and then back the Christine's to have a little BBQ with a whole bunch of friends. Thanks to CHab for tossing us that little one-night party.
* Wednesday we headed towards NJ - but had to stop at the Inner Harbor first to catch an O's game and have a few with Steve and Seamus, and the young Sharpe cousins too. Would have liked to stay longer, but the Garden State was calling.
* Got to spend a round of golf with said Sharpe cousins and Uncle Jerry, then headed to the shore with a bunch of hoagies in tow for the Best of Philly, Sharpe edition, contest. Jen and Dad ran all over creation getting them, and it was sooooo worth it (says me, the one who shot 18)
* Spent the weekend at the baby-friendly Tiki Bar with lil' Tyler. It was definitely great to see how big he's gotten (3 months) and how much more he responds to everything. Aunt Jen and Uncle T.J. certainly LOVED our Lil' T.J. time!!! It was a fun, relaxing weekend - got to see the whole family, Scott and Cheryl stopped by on their way to DE, fireworks on the deck on the 4th, even had the predictable 3-hour cruise aboard one of our barely-seaworthy vessels and had to get towed in. It was a great weekend, and although we didn't want our vacation to end, it was nice to be home and in our own bed after 11 nights on the road.
Oh yea, we got the one way rental car up to NJ for $1 a day. One of the best deals I've ever gotten, and I'm notorious for looking for a better deal in just about anything I spend a buck on.
Phillies game - FINALLY - down here. Fred, Mike and I went, saw a near-no hitter by Moyer, and behaved pretty well... almost. Until we had to go pick up Doreen at her cousin's... and the beers turned to rum... and the pool cues got broken out...
Tyler's Baptism. Jen's got a blog post for that half-started so I'll let her post.
Lobster Mini-Season. Fred and I scoped out the Florida spiny Lobsters, and then got in the water by 630am to hunt crustaceans. 2 tanks each, and there were 21 in our bags (limit is 12 per person). It was a great way to start a Wednesday, although I was dragging by mid-afternoon. Was totally worth it though, we hit one spot at the end of our first tank (literally at the end - I ran out of air surfacing) and went back down and cleaned house. It was a pretty cool experience going back down and seeing about a dozen lobster sticking out from various crevices in a 20 foot area. Here's the GPS Coordin... uh, nevermind. Fred would ban me from the Lost Boys for good if I give those out.
And finally, the first annual Sharpe Summer Splash... Taken inspiration from the BaratBashes that Avi has hosted for years, we started this out as a small BBQ and ended up with a blow-up water slide that was live video streamed on ustream.com. Plenty of stories out of that one too (including Jay feeding Tyler at midnight watching our beer pong games in FL)

We'll be adding a bunch in the near future and toss in a few more pictures when we can from some of the events from above.

Telling Baby Sharpie’s “Aunties”

2009-07-11T21:12:00.002-04:00

Today we are celebrating Kim’s birthday, and the plan is to spend the day hanging out at the pool at the new W hotel, go up to our room and get changed, hit the bars at night and spend the night at the W. I had told Kim on Thursday that I was pregnant, and I also told Cristibelle (who is also pregnant – about 8 weeks ahead of me). My initial plan was to try to get away without telling anyone else…with Kim and Belle knowing I was pregnant, I figured they could ward off the alcohol which was sure to head in my direction. :) We are really early in the pregnancy (I was 4 weeks and 3 days at this point) and I know that the proper “protocol” is to wait until 12 weeks before telling the world. T.J. of course had didn’t think I’d be able to make it through the first hour (he knows me so well). Regardless, it had been awhile since I hung out with the girls, so I was excited for the day.

I picked up Shannon, Doreen and Corinne, and we headed to the W. When we got to the hotel, we met Julie, Lisa and Cheryl in the hotel room. As I walked into the hotel room, Julie pretty much thrust a bottle of vodka in my face and said "drink this cocktail or i know you're pregnant!" I pulled her in the bathroom and told her that I was pregnant and that I was going to try to keep it quiet for a little bit. And we tried to keep a lid on it for awhile. I made it through a few hours, dodging vodka being poured into my drink from Lisa’s stash in her beach bag and going in the hot tub with Cheryl and Doreen, but a turkey gouda sandwich threw me over the edge. We were sitting around the pool and decided to order lunch, and Corinne and I were going to share a meal. I was scanning the menu, and there seemed to be so many things that a pregnant person wasn’t supposed to eat. After much debate with Corinne on what we should order (which she is already like, "why are you so picky today") we settle on the turkey gouda wrap and in the back of my mind I’m thinking "OK, I’ll just take off the gouda, whatever." But Julie happens to be around (luckily :)) and she says "you can't eat that!" and I was like "I’m taking off the cheese" and she said, "no, the turkey!" and then i remembered she's right, deli meats are supposed to be a no no unless they are heated, so I just stared at her and I was like "this is really hard!" and she said "Just spill it, sista!" LOL and so I just blurted out “I’m pregnant!” and you could hear my friend's squealing from a block away! It was so much fun. And for anyone who is concerned, I ended up having a veggie wrap (and caramel popcorn!)

If I hadn't been with all of them that day/night, I’m sure I would have waited, but these girls have been through so much with me, and I would share with them anyway if (god forbid) something bad happened, so I was happy to share this great news with them.

by the time it was time for us to go out at night....there were only 5 of us left (Cheryl, Kim, Lisa, Julie and me) - and we were hanging out in the Living Room at the W and Kim thought we should confirm my pregnancy (I think she saw me lusting after the basil martini) so she sent the concierge to go buy a digital EPT test that says "pregnant" just to be super sure. (The concierge at the W says they will do “whatever, whenever” and they really mean it!) About 30 minutes later, he showed up in the Living Room with the test and Cheryl and I went into the bathroom, and guess what… yes, I was still pregnant! It was a great night.

Oh My God, WE ARE HAVING A BABY!

2009-07-08T20:26:00.005-04:00

Written by Jen: We had been “trying” to get pregnant for a couple of months, so I had a general idea as to when I could test and see if I was pregnant. Yesterday was the day, and I used a cheap generic HPT that T.J. bought, and I thought I saw a faint line, but I couldn’t tell. I figured I’d try again this morning with another test and maybe it would be more clear. This morning, same story, I thought I saw a line, but I couldn’t be sure. I had T.J. take a look, he didn’t see anything until he compared it to an unused one, then thought *maybe* he saw a line… but we weren’t sure. I even brought them both into work to ask my coworker, Jen, what she thought. After some research and Googling, Jen decided I needed to use a digital test (and even found me a coupon for one) so we agreed I would buy the digital one and try again in the morning.

That night I had a board meeting for the Boys and Girls Club, which happened to be in the same shopping center as Target, so after the meeting, I went over to Target and purchased the digital pregnancy test. I was going to wait until the next morning, but... I couldn’t. When I got home, I went right into the bathroom and took the test. TJ was working on our new floors, and I didn’t want to tell him that I bought another pregnancy test (we still had a bunch of those less-accurate ones) since he thinks I spend too much money on all "that pregnancy stuff". When I saw the words “PREGNANT” I couldn’t believe it!

We had been trying and we both wanted this baby so badly, but I still couldn’t believe it. My legs got a little weak and I had to sit down as I felt a bit dizzy. For a brief moment (very brief), I considered not telling TJ until we were ready for bed because I really wanted him to finish the floors :) but, of course, I couldn’t even hold in the excitement, so I ran out and shoved the test in his face. He was adorable, so excited, smiling ear to ear, picking me up, hugging and kissing me and rubbing my belly, (even giving himself a “way to go” pat on his back) – it was an amazing moment. Of course the floors didn’t get finished, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Michael Vick vs. Dog Lovers

2009-05-20T19:42:00.002-04:00

Apparently my Facebook status got a few friends of Fido a tad upset, so rather than add to comments, I'll post this up there to make it a bit easier to read. A few things here... first to clarify my position (and the status) - I think what Vick did was cruel, stupid, and barbaric. He rightfully lost (almost) all admiration fans had for him, his set-for-life financial stability, anything resembling the career he once had, and for 19 months, his freedom. The status post was merely a small venting at how overexposed this is; after hearing it on the morning news, sportscenter, talk radio, etc... all day, and hearing some of the over the top responses from members of the general public, my thoughts started to migrate from "so the dumbass is out of jail, good luck with that Mikey" and towards actually feeling a *tiny* bit sorry for the guy. Not for the situation he's put himself in, but for the vengence directed in his direction - and where it should fall on the scale that the general public should feel outrage about. (as an aside, although most of you know how much I love football, I'm not a Mike Vick fan. Never have been. Actually very much *disliked* him as a QB and never had any reason to like Vick the Man, either).

It's really a question of two things:
1. Now that Vick has paid his debt to society, where does that leave him in the future
and
2. Was that debt in proportion to the acts he pled guilty to - i.e. did the crime fit the punishment

I think it was the second part that gets under everyone's skin - that somehow, he's not been punished enough, and vigilante justice is in order. I know this is different from the public opinion, but my thought is that his status as a black NFL quarterback in the South got him more time in the pen than the Average Joe Dogfighter. Did it deserve jail time? Of course it did, Vick and his cohorts were involved in something not only illegal but reprehensibly immoral. Was he made into a very public example and given an overzealous sentance?? Debatable... it's a touchy subject, because so many of us abhor the thought of our dogs in the "care" of Bad Newz Kennels, and that hits close to home. How, though, does Leonard Little go to jail for 16 months less than Michael Vick? Is vehicular homicide really 1/6th the crime that torturing and killing dogs is? At the very least, he's gotten his just due in court and in Leavenworth, much less in the court of public opinion.

The first one is what prompted the post in the first place... since it's being debated ad nauseum in the media. Who knows if he has been "rehabilitated" or not, only time and his sincerity will tell us. Regardless, he's completing his sentance and will be done in a few months and will have to decide how to continue his life and career, either the football one, the construction one, or something else. The man deserves a chance to make amends and to live his life with the opportunity to make things right. If that is in his chosen profession, he should be allowed to do everything possible to begin a productive career and make a difference - assuming he does the necessary things for both the NFL and for himself and his parole. If he chooses not to, it will be evident in short order, and the public floggings can resume. I just don't see how canceling season tickets, blasting any team that would consider signing him, and talking of organizing protests outside stadiums before the guy is even considering (or eligible to) rejoining the NFL is anywhere near rational. He's done (or is doing) his penance. Let's move forward. If there's anything short of full remorse, the opportunity to raise hell will come and come quickly.

Look, I understand this is a sensitve subject for many people - Jen and I lost the dog she had for 13 years just this January, and I know Marijo, Kim, and some others have lost their pets recently too. So the emotion a pet can bring to you can certainly color any judgement of Vick or anyone else in that situation. When it comes down to it though, what is the more productive path - making Vick's life exceedingly and continually difficult by making his NFL comeback a public relations nightmare? Or taking advantage of the media attention that this is attracting, getting Vick and a potential future NFL team/city on board, and making animal cruelty a "pet" project (pun intended) for PETA and some team's charity? Wouldn't Vick make a better spokesperson and feel-good story than as a martyr? Wouldn't the Animal Rights community benefit waaaaay more from Vick the co-champion than by Vick the Warning Sign? Assuming Vick is genuinely remorseful and wants to make amends, there's no way in HELL he doesn't embrace this. His friends are gone. His finances are a mess. He's got no discernable alternate career options to turn to. He'd jump on board and pet Paris Hilton's handbag dog the entire time if that is what it took just to get back to even. Trust me, he's on board. So come on, doggie lovers... talk to your local SPCA or PETA or whatever chapters and get them to explore the idea of a Michael Vick partnership. You can make his life hell, and all that venom won't bring any Bad Newz dogs back. Or you take advantage of a rare and enormous opportunity to appeal to a wider audience than you ever have before (and likely ever will again) and take a fallen hero from the most popular sport in the country and put him at the forefront of your cause. Select the former, and you're certain to negatively affect one life; go with the latter, and who knows how many puppies' lives will be positively affected. From here, it's pretty obvious what the Humane choice is...

Baseball Just Won't Be The Same...

2009-04-14T20:15:00.004-04:00

It's been covered in great detail and length by both the Philly media , Philly sports blogs , and the national media (ESPN had it as their lead story for the better part of 24 hours, and Jayson Stark gave the nation a glimpse into what Harry meant to us). And if this doesn't give you goosebumps, then you just don't bleed the right color red: http://www.the700level.com/2009/04/the-final-outta-here.html

Like Richie Ashburn and Gene Hart, Harry was an extended part of my life, of every Phillies fan's family. It really wasn't baseball season without hearing his soothing voice calling the games on Philly 57 or over 1210 AM. Heck, Opre and I even paid extra this year just so we could get all the Phillies broadcasters via the mlb.tv package. Yesterday felt like I lost that great uncle that was always in your life (Uncle Mattie comes to mind, except a lot more smiles from Harry). One of the most comforting things since yesterday was reading how much more talented writers than I have been able to verbalize what an entire generation - make that a few generations - of Phillies fans felt about Harry.

The Phillies may not have been very successful for much of my adult life (reality is, they've been more bad then good, or even average, since 1985), but baseball is always baseball, your team will always win its share of games, and each little victory gives a small reason to smile and cheer. If football season is 3 hours of gladiatorial combat preceded by six days of preparation, planning, and hype, baseball is the polar opposite: spanning three celestial seasons from pitchers and catchers to the final "struck 'im ooouuuuut!" in late October, it is the sporting personification of a lazy summer evening on the back deck with a cool drink, shooting the breeze. Harry's reoccurring part as narrator of that annual rite of summer put us fans in the perfect position to appreciate the subtle beauties of the game. Even the silence between pitches - filled only with the sounds of the ballpark, stretches most announcers and/or stadium organists don't give the fans a chance to appreciate - was peaceful, knowing on the other side of that momentary pause, there would be Harry the K, picking up the action at just the right time, with just the right sense of anticipation for the next pitch.

Harry, you'll be missed by every phan who ever tuned into a Phillies game. As many have said, you were the Phillies to millions of Delaware Valley residents, and as one of the many, I'll miss hearing you call every Phils moment, both high and low. My phone ringer, for a very long time, (sorry Jen) will continue to be "The 0-2 pitch... swing and a miss, STRUCK HIM OUT!! The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 World Champions of Baseball!!" And I hope I continue to get the same chills that I did just now, listening to that wonderful moment just one more time...

Houston

2009-04-10T01:08:00.004-04:00

Nothing clever or long on this blog, since it's bedtime here in the heart of Texas. Just random observations about this week's travel to Houston...

The infrastructure around the city itself is probably the best I've ever seen for a city of any decent size. It's like they knew to have wide roads and plenty of extra space for ramps, HOV lanes, even tolls, way before anyone else. That, or their civil engineering is vastly superior to the rest of the country. Name one large city that doesn't seem to have pretty much outgrown its highways. I'd throw Houston up there as the first one I've ever seen.
Speaking of tolls, this place has a beltway and a couple of spurs in/out of the city that are pay roads. Put it like this - it's worse than the Garden State Parkway when it comes to the frequency and amount of the tolls. I guess I know how they pay for all those infrastructure improvements.
I skipped a Springsteen concert to do work and eat Mexican food; weak, I know. I must be getting older and more mature, or something like that. I just had waaaaay too much shit to do this week (channeling my inner Lehman) and I have another chance to go see him in Chicago I think. Besides, it wasn't just Mexican food - this stuff was KILLER. If you're ever down here, do yourself a favor and go to Lupe Tortilla. There's a good chance if I ever lived here I'd be there 3x a week.
Something about Houston appealed to me... so far it's been the most pleasant surprise of my trips. Truth is, my work travel hasn't been very glamorous... they don't exactly put trash companies in Beverly Hills. Other than the 2nd half of the first week in LA, it's been fairly nondescript, and nothing about Detroit, Dallas (other than the absurd enormity of the new Cowboys Stadium), or LA made me ever think I'd want to live in any of those places. Yes, LA was nice, but all that great weather (ok, so so weather) and beautiful views come with the price of the 2nd biggest city in America and all the negatives that come with it - traffic, crime, an overly frantic pace, and specifically dealing with all the issues of a big city without many of the benefits (like the relative ease in getting around in cities like Philly, Boston, and NYC once you're actually in the city itself). It's like LA is one big sprawling quasi-suburb. Anyways, the point to all this is that Houston seems to have a heck of a lot going for it - plenty of commerce, lots of space, proximity to a shoreline (from downtown Houston to Galveston is actually closer than Philly to AC), good food, seemingly very nice Texas folk... all in all, I saw a lot of good things here, compared to very few drawbacks. I'm not planning on packing up the Jeep anytime soon, but if I ever had to make another move, Houston would definitely be on the "Acceptable Cities" list.
I had four presentations/training classes this week, and something went wrong in each and every one of them, and all four of them were completely beyond my control. It makes for a frustrating week when planes are delayed, accounts are locked, PCs aren't imaged right, and power cords aren't shipped, but it ended up working out in the end. If that's all I have to complain about (it's not, but still) then things really aren't that bad at all.
Not Houston related but I've been an uncle for all of 7 days now and love it. This is like all the benefits of having a child you love and care about, without the actual responsibility of caring for said child on a consistent basis. I like it. Go ahead J&T, have another!!
There's probably more but I am tired and need to hit bed, so until I remember something else, that's all for now - off to Orlando, then Indian Rocks Beach, and FINALLY back to Ft. Lauderdale after a(nother) ten day hiatus.

More Tyler Jason

2009-04-07T23:57:00.009-04:00

Spent a great weekend up in NJ with the newest parents of the Sharpe family and their little addition. Due to Southwest f*cking up our standby list and some lousy weather up north, we ended up missing the visitor hours at the hospital on Friday night, but got plenty of time with the little guy, and Trace and Jay. We got two trips to West Jersey Hospital, and still managed to give them some time alone Saturday night. (Conveniently, the end of visiting hours happened to coincide with the beginning of the Nova-UNC game) So two trips to see baby Tyler, along with Sean, Lis, and their kids coming by for the game, gave Jen and I quite a "preview of coming attractions"... when the attractions come is still TBD, although if the inquirey level of the thre F's (family, friends, and Facebook) played any part, it would be soon. It was really special to be with Jay and Trace, watching them take care of their little swaddled package, feeding him, cuddling, even doing the glamourless stuff like burpng and changing diapers. Jason's done a great job taking care of Ty while Tracey is resting up - her labor and delivery lasted pretty long and took a lot out of her (literally!) so he's done a great job of being Mr. Mom for the first few days. They are home now, they got home on Sunday afternoon, and everything at their house is set up. Jen and I are both pretty excited to be Aunt Jen and Uncle T.J., and are already looking forward to our next trip up there. He's pretty adorable, even taking out my Godfather bias. It was definetly tough to leave the little bugger.

Nova got killed but UNC was a beast, so I feel less lousy about it now after they dismantled Michigan State. The thing was they got within 5 in the second half... "what if" they hadn't missed all those freaking 3's, etc... Ahh what can you do - thanks for the run Scottie, Dante, and Co. It was worth it. The Phils on the other hand had the magic of the 2008 WFC last all of a few at bats on Sunday. Not to worry... there's plenty of time to give the Mets time to pad this year's September collapse.

Penn State, Nova and Tyler too!

2009-04-02T22:18:00.008-04:00

Big start to this spring... we're 12 days in and it's already been a great season. Penn State just went on a wild ride to win the NIT and beat those pesky Gators of Florida along the way. Hard to really celebrate the NIT championship, it's like pulling the Community Chest card and winning $10. Still, it's a championship in hoops for my favorite football school, so we got that going for us... which is nice.

Bigger story, the upstart Wildcats of Villanova making a run to the Final Four. They had a solid chance before the brackets were announced to make a run, but the initial reaction to their Road to Detroit was "Damn, that's gonna be tough". American (which had them down by double digits with 8 minutes left), then UCLA (which had been to the past several Final Fours), then Duke (OVER-RAT-ED!!) and finally the Pink Panthers of Pitt. It was the most difficult path taken by one of the last four teams standing, and that combination of tough opponents and buzzer-beating heroics will help them this weekend.

Remember a few years ago when the refs ROBBED Nova from a chance for the sweet 16 upset? Also remember that they've lost to the eventual national champions in three of the past four years in the tourney (Kansas, Florida, and UNC), and the current core players have played in at least 2 of those games. This team was ready for the run to Detroit, and they are more than capable of toppling the most talented team in the country. Carolina may have the better talent and more pro prospects, but that doesn't mean they are the best team. Just ask Patrick Ewing.

BUT... the big story on Action News this April 2nd is that, after a day and change in the hospital, a night of dilating and pushing, and an lunchtime c-section, Tracey and Jason are the proud parents of a healthy 20.5 in, 7.7 lbs baby boy!!! Tyler Jason Sharpe made his way into the world this afternoon (sometime before 1:36pm) and everyone is very excited he's here - especially a tuckered out Mommy and Daddy. "Uncle T.J. and Aunt Jen" can't wait to get to Philly tomorrow evening to see the little bugger, he's adorably cute (of course he is, he's my nephew!!). There's going to be PLENTY more Tyler updates, any time another "T.J. Sharpe" can grace the world with his presence, it really needs to be documented for future generations. :) More on this little guy after a weekend in Cherry Hill, Jen and I can't WAIT to see him!!

(insert your favorite LA song title/lyric here)

2009-03-17T02:35:00.005-04:00

Since there's so many that I can't pick just one, I'll leave it up to everyone else to come up with suggestions.

Jen came to LA for the weekend. Surprise, it was non-stop. First, a drive up the PCH and then happy hour at Duke's, on the water in Malibu. Her friends on Friday night. My college buddies in Newport on Saturday. High school friends in Seal Beach on Sunday (happy birthday Hogan, ye olde bastarde) and back to Hermosa on Sunday to hang with Sari for a bit on Sunday before she left. Luckily, I had been there drunk before with Lefever and Pritts, so we made our way to Yankee Doodle (after the Santa Monica pier, which apparently has replaced Tijuana as the immigration port of choice on the Pacific coast) after chilling out on the bluffs over PCH in Santa monica, see the pics Jen posted about the sunset for what you missed. (washers champion, March 2005, same grassy knoll, where I wiped up the aforementioned Cornell homos)

Anyways, we did have our "moment" - I've been travelling a ton, 5 of the last 6 weeks out of town, and it takes a small toll on our relationship when we're apart for a week at a time, several times in a row. So as we walk out onto 3rd st. or whatever that place is with the bars and sidewalk freaks... the guy at the keyboard starts playing "Just the Way You Are" - our wedding song. It was a great way to close a long weekend, and a long time apart. LA - we had a blast, and there was plenty of great things to see, and friends to meet up with, but we'll take south FL any time, and invite you all to stay.

Other random stuff...

Facebook is Multi Level Marketing at a social level. And it's one of the most popular things in America right now. No wonder we're in a complete recession. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to update my status mobily and see what new friends I might have throught the "Friends you might know".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9zItgB9PrA&NR=1 I could watch Jay and Silent Bob all day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvcTsOEFQgk start at 4:00 if you want the whole intro to Dogma, or just hit 9:10 and look for the guy with the horns, CMU's finest and my own little brother Gio. Always great work, my friend.
I think you can watch Dogma through the entire clip in 10 minute intervals... here goes nothing...

Life in LA

2009-03-06T07:00:00.002-05:00

Out in LA for two weeks for work. The West Coast is definitely... different. It's only been a few days, so it's not like I have a huge sample here (especially since I spend my time mostly at trash companies), but for every + for the wesssside, there seems to be a corresponding minus. Fantastic views of mountains and hills and ocean? Check. Miserable traffic and construction? Counter-check. Cool beach atmosphere? Check. 30-year-old roads with potholes every 20 feet? Counter-check. Lots of people I know out here? Check. Lots and LOTS of people I don't know, everywhere. Counter-check. In-N-Out Burger? Check. Rapidly expanding waistline? Counter-check.

The craziest thing to me was that I got to dine in Compton, CA, this afternoon. OK, "dine" isn't the right description - "head through the drive through and get the heck out of there" is more accurate. Bizarelly, though, what I saw of Compton wasn't anything like what Ice Cube used to write about. If you showed me pictures and asked me to name the city, there's no way in HELL I would have ever come up with "Compton, CA". Granted, it's not like I did a lot of sightseeing, but the part I did see had new strip malls, a Starbucks, houses in decent shape with yards and fences and all the rest of what you'd expect to see in Suburbia. There's quite a few places in the Fort Lauderdale area that at least appear to be in much worse shape. Bizarre.

The good thing I'm able to see some friends out here - last night it was a pitcher (or a few) with Barnicle and his wife Brenda. Later on this weekend, it'll be Goldi, Avi, Dirty Ray, Pat Hogan, Carmen, Schmitko... the list goes on. And Jen - who is about to land at LAX, so time to wrap this up - also has a list of people to make sure we get in touch with. We'll get some pics from the trip down to "the OC" this weekend.

Goodbye (for 40 days) to Fried Foods and Smart-ass Comments

2009-02-25T22:52:00.000-05:00

Your Ash Wednesday Update...
For Lenty this year, we're sacrificing a couple things I am better off without: eating anything fried, and making smart-ass comments, especially to my wife. Anyone who knows me knows this might be the most difficult Lent sacrifice yet, and I'm not talking about the KFC. (I did make sure to call - and wake her up - last night to get one more line in before midnight). This is going to be tougher than giving up pizza in Hoboken that one year, or cursing another year, or kissing girls other than my then-girlfriend in college back in... eh, let's just move on. Anyways, being Ash Wednesday, and being on the road for work (in beef-happy Dallas, of all places), and having 15 minutes to find lunch that has no meat and nothing fried, it was a rough start, but a Subway Tuna Hoagie bailed me out. I even passed on the Baked Lays - just in case there's a little false advertising going on there. (Side note - when, oh when, will WaWa go nationwide so I'll be able to go to the Peter Luger's of convenience stores??)

It's not like Jen helps matters... I'll leave out details, but we'll just say there was only one person with a bag of ice on their leg at Fred and Doreen's engagement party. And that is just the tip of the iceberg... but I'm treading on thin ice here with the blog, so I'll let it go (for now, or until another good story comes out this spring).

Time for bed, traveling pretty much non-stop since 2/7 finally took its toll on me - Philly, then Arizona, then home for a weekend, now back in Dallas - and I was sick earlier this week, so it's one more full day here, then catch-up as February ends. See you on Easter Saturday at 11:59pm with a tub of Tater Tots, some Doritos, Southport's Fried Fish Combo, and a few (but not many!) comments for the lovely wife. :)

Hot Air In Phoenix

2009-02-21T10:27:00.001-05:00

I surprised TJ with the hot air balloon when we were in Phoenix this past weekend. It was SO awesome, we had the best time.

ANYWAY, on our "descent" in the hot air balloon, we were really low going over people's houses, I mean really low, I thought we were going to hit some roofs. So I'm looking out and i have my camera ready, and I see this guy walking around his backyard totally naked!! (his backyard was fenced in, of course!)

So I am like "OH MY GOD!" And we are so low he hears me, and he yells "OH MY GOD!" When he sees the hot air balloon over him with 7 people staring at him. He took off running inside his house so most of the hot air balloon people only saw his jiggly butt as he was cupping his goods and running in the house. Seconds later his "friend" came outside, in a robe, giving us the evil stare. It was so funny! :)

Our pilot on the hot air balloon said he sees boobies all the time, but this was a first for a wee wee.

It's February, T.J.'s Traveling, Steeler Luck, and Random Stuff

2009-02-15T19:13:00.000-05:00

If you live in any of the following cities and I haven't gotten in touch with you, email me, cause Sharpie's coming to town: Dallas, LA, Houston, Atlanta, and Chicago. I've got to find someone in Houston - it's the only place I don't know anyone, and it'll put me behind Goldi and CHab in the "You Know Someone EVERYWHERE!" race. There's got to be some CMU dork or some relocated South Jerseyian there, although most likely it'll be someone with the hazily vague title "Used to drink with them". Step up, all locations, I'm making good use of my time away from house repairs on Republic's dime, although one week into it and my diet is already suffering pretty badly.

Read on TMQ this week, and unnoticed on the blown-call (clip of Tim Hightower), questionable-spot (crossing the goal line) INT TD by James Harrison at the end of the 1st Half of the Super Bowl: Larry Fitzgerald could have, and probably would have, caught Harrison 10 yards from the goal lins... if Antrel Rolle - Go figure, a U of Miami "graduate" - doesn't INTERFERE with his own player on the sidelines!! Watch around :27, and you'll see both the clip and a DB costing his team 7 points, and possibly the Super Bowl. And enjoy the gay music you stiller fans.

My favorite line of the holiday, from my lovely wife looking at a slightly fuller moon than she saw 24 hours previously - "is that the same moon as last night?"

Detroit... this economy and job market is hitting everyone tough, but man, the Motor City is just downright depressing. I got to spend 5 days there, and the whole area seems just dejected. Unemployment is high - closing in on 10%. The roads have more potholes than Baghdad Blvd. The city - at least the parts that house trash companies - are in disrepair. Hey at least they have nice stadiums though! The Palace at Auburn Hills was pretty sweet, we got some tickets from the local Republic guy, so Pfeif and Lori made the hike up from Curtice for that one. Plus, with all the nice Midwestern drivers, I was able to get us out of the parking lot in about 4 minutes by cutting across parked cars.

Even the food, an eclectic mix, doesn't stand out for anything special. On the weekly internet radio show I'm doing on occasion, I spotlight an NFL city for their tailgate/cooking and give a local-inspired recipe. Thank God I never had to do Detroit, I'd have no idea what to do - maybe Ribs 'n 40's. The pervasive food is "Coneys", basically hot dog shops/grills with varying degrees of food and price. I can understand stealing a signature item of another city to put on your memu - Philly cheesesteaks, Memphis BBQ, Cincinnati chili, etc... - but when the most popular eatery type is based on a city island 600 miles away, well, it just adds to the grey cloud sitting over the region.

Random thought - I might be in the minority here, but prime rib can't hold a candle to a good porterhouse or filet. Maybe it's because it's a rare meat aversion, or having to cut around multiple layers of gristle, or having to dip it into something for more taste.

Zoe, Part II

2009-01-23T20:31:00.000-05:00

I picked up Zoe's ashes today. I was going to wait and go with TJ after our chiropractor appointments, but I was afraid we would run late, and I couldn't bear the thought of her being on a shelf somewhere, in the vet hospital for the whole weekend. I didn't think picking up her ashes would be that difficult, I mean, I knew that she was dead, but I thought I could handle it on my own. Boy was I wrong. First, they couldn't find her. Then they located her and opened a cabinet, took a box off the shelf and handed it to me. I lost it. I started wailing, like I've never cried before. The poor receptionist didn't know what to do, neither did the customer who had just stopped in to buy some dog food. I managed to take Zoe and walk outside. I sat on the ground and held the box, and tried to catch my breath, as I felt like I was going to hyperventilate. I finally pulled it together and got into the car, placing the box that contained the ashes of my sweet, precious little puppy on the passenger seat next to me, where she sat so many times before.

I waited until we got home, and I asked TJ to open the box. We took out the smaller urn that held Zoe, and a small pewter keychain that held some of her ashes. It was a very hard night, but luckily the door flew open and Cheryl came to the rescue with beautiful roses, and, more importantly, lots of wine! We toasted to Zoe and were soon joined by Doreen, then Corinne. Through my tears I was able to laugh a lot too as we talked about the good times with Zoe and what a great life she had. I love you guys!

The Zoe Bug

2009-01-14T08:00:00.003-05:00

Wednesday morning, January 14, 2008, I got the phone call that I have always dreaded. It was my brother, Matthew's birthday, and I had called him the night before after midnight, singing happy birthday after a few glasses of wine I had enjoyed with my coworkers at the Estate Planning Seminar we were attending in Orlando. So, when the phone rang at 7:45am, I figured he was getting me back for the late night calls I had made the night before. But when the phone rang for the 5th time, I felt I better answer it.

I'll never forget those words that I heard, "Jen Jen, I love you to death, but Zoe passed away in her sleep last night." I was instantly awake and just kept repeating "What? What are you saying?" I felt like I had been hit in the chest with a ton of bricks. I always knew the day that Zoe left this world would be hard, but I never imagined how hard it would actually be. Luckily, the seminar that we were attending broadcasted in the hotel room so I didn't have to leave the room that day. I laid in bed, with tears rolling down my face, and remembered Zoe, my best friend for the past 13 years and 7 months.

I remembered driving to Jacksonville, and getting to pick which of Duchess' puppies was going to be mine (friends of my parents were the breeders). I remember Zoe was the runt of the litter, and she was so tiny and just sat in the corner, not making a sound. I remember Jimmy telling me, "That one is the quiet one, doesn't make a sound." Well anyone who knew Zoe knew that she definitely was NOT the quiet one.

Zoe joined me in Tallahassee, where we would run 3 - 5 miles a day and went to the dog park every day to play with her Frisbee. Zoe would put grab her Frisbee in her mouth and carry it herself all the way to the park and as soon as we got to her spot, she would throw the Frisbee at me and bark at me, and I would throw the Frisbee over and over again as Zoe would run her fastest, beat the Frisbee across the park, and run back to deposit it at my feet. It would barely be out of her mouth when she would start barking for me to throw it again.

And Zoe loved to swim, in the beach, in the pool, in a lake. I would sit on one end of the pool and throw Zoe's Frisbee to her and she would dive into the pool, catching it in her mouth. If my arm got tired of throwing the Frisbee to her, she would grab it from me, in a very exasperated manner, toss it into the pool, and wait for the light current of the water to take it towards the middle of the pool. Then she would jump in, retrieve it, and do it all over again.

I tried to show Zoe how much I loved her by bringing her to the park or letting her swim, but I could never give her back what she gave me. Her constant, unconditional love was second to none. She spent 4 years with me in Tallahassee, 3 years in Gainesville, and her remaining 6+ years with me in Fort Lauderdale. She nursed my many broken hearts as I cried my eyes out with my face buried in her fur. When I had a bad day at school or at work, I couldn't walk through the door and stay in a bad mood because I would be greeted with a wagging tail and Zoe would tell me about her day. She didn't bark, she talked, and we had a special language that I could always understand.

Everyone knew how special Zoe was to me. One of the first times that I hung out with TJ, we were at a hurricane party after Wilma had hit, and Zoe was with me. TJ made a comment about Zoe's talking and telling her to hush, and my friends Kim and Cheryl immediately jumped in, telling TJ in no uncertain terms that when Zoe had something to say, you just listened and gave her some attention. But TJ knew how important Zoe was to me too. When I took a job that was further than 12 blocks from my house, and I couldn't come home for lunch anymore, TJ was able to step up and walk her and make sure she was taken care of. He knew how important she was to me and for that reason, she was important to him. She even accompanied us when TJ proposed to me, and I was so happy that she was able to share that day with us.

Zoe was declining in health, her hearing was almost gone and she didn't play with her toys like she used to. Instead of grabbing her Frisbee when she was outside, she preferred to lay in the sun and take a nap. But she still had so much life in her. I could see the puppy twinkle in her eyes when I would look at her, even with her gray muzzle.

Being in the house without Zoe is so hard. Even when her hearing was gone, and I had to wake her up when I got home, she would jump up and be so happy to see me. Cooking isn't the same without her, now when I drop one of my ingredients, I actually have to pick it up since my helper is no longer at my side. Its been hard to be in the backyard, since Zoe loved to be out there, laying in the sun or standing at the dock looking into the water, trying to figure out how to get in (and get back out).

I still occasionally "hear" her at night, hear the sound of her little paws walking up and down the hallway. I believe in my heart of hearts that Zoe passed away the morning of her vet appointment because she didn't want me to have to make that awful decision. I think she knew I was out of town and since I always get up before TJ in the morning, she didn't want me to find her. She wanted to be home, in her house, with her daddy, and not in a vet hospital as she took her final breath. I miss her terribly, but I know that her little body just gave out on her, and now she is in dog heaven, chasing Frisbees, with no ailments, only that unadulterated pure joy. Good bye, my sweet Zoe bug, please check in on me from time to time because I miss you so much.

2008 Year in Review

2008-12-19T01:11:00.000-05:00

What a year the past 12 months were… first the big stuff. Like many of you know, at the end of April, Jen and I got married in Fort Lauderdale. We had a great weekend, filled with family, friends, fun, and fantastic festivities, and are thankful that many of you were able to make the journey from near (Jen’s mom, blocks away) and far (Avi, Jeanie, Goldi, Seemi, and Meredith from CA; special mention to Jim Zechinati who came all the way from business in Austria!). It was a great weekend and we were so lucky to have all of you there. From Pier 66, it was off to Tahiti for 11 days – a night in Papeete, followed by 5 days each in Moorea and Bora Bora. For all the details, check the blog (link above – go to April/May posts), but in a few words or less, it was freaking unbelievable. Fantastic food, amazing views, some incredible scuba diving (Jen got certified), and just the time of our lives.

Well, after the honeymoon was over, we bought a house – and then the honeymoon was REALLY over!! OK, maybe not really, but a Tahitian overwater bungalow was slightly more romantic than paint brushes and faux fireplaces and ripping out 1970’s wood paneling. Still, we have our little slice – on a small canal up the south fork of the New River, 20 minutes by boat to downtown Fort Lauderdale, another 20 out to the Atlantic (in Fred’s boat of course, since we don’t actually have one). A 3/2, with PLENTY of opportunity for us to exercise our limited house renovation abilities. It’s going a bit slow, but thanks to a lot of help from Lukes’ Landscaping, the outside looks a heck of a lot better, and the inside is getting there. So that means we have plenty of room for all our friends here to crash late night and out of town guests to stay weekends.

So that’s been the majority of our 2008 – but not the whole thing, of course. Jen had a couple of showers, here and up in NJ. I had a couple of bachelor parties; in NJ it was roller hockey and Sambuca and plenty of fun, especially with Lehman’s cell phone. Great job by Jay and Erik putting it all together, and thanks to all you guys for turning Mom and Dad’s house into the Cherry Hill Beta Shady Palace Bulldog Cranberry Bog. While the shenanigans were going on, Jen had a mini-Bachelorette Party of her own, with some of the Sharpe gals and a Masseuse on the Loose (ask Jen). Part II of the Bachelor Party sent a motley crew down to Key West for a long weekend while Jen and the gals headed to NYC for the St. Patrick’s Bachelorette party. To top things off, Goldi combined his bachelor party in there too, so the adventure was doubled. Too many adventures to list here, but we weekend provided plenty of fun, memories, a little trouble with the Kon Tiki, and plenty of getting into trouble on Duval St. Oh yea, apologies to Caniz, McManus, Rogish, Pitts, Lefever, Daur, Martin, Legates, Freed, and Makovsky – passing out your cell phone numbers to spring breakers was my, er, Lehman’s best idea all year. Sunday ended up being quite a day as Ray, Cody, Pfeif and I made the most of our 8+ year reunion of the Irish Kevin’s millennium, and only Mark biting the bullet got us back to Broward County in one piece – thanks Mark!

April was wedding month, but not just for Jen and I. First, we journeyed down to Baja California Sur for Matt Facarazzo’s wedding. Matt and Kelly had a beautiful beachfront ceremony at Dreams in Cabo, and we had a great time being a part of their special weekend. It was a ton of fun, even if Kelly’s sister in law gave birth while Kelly’s brother Michael, the rest of the Weavers, and Jen’s family were toasting the new couple on the Sea of Cortez. The week after, I journeyed out to Orange County for Goldi and Seema’s wedding, where I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend (it’s not often you see Ray in traditional Indian dress) while Jen did the last minute wedding prep. Two weeks later, it was our turn!

Since then it’s been a lot of house stuff, but we have found time to have a little fun here and there (a lot of it’s on the blog). We got to head to the Shore for the 4th, getting to see plenty of friends, chowing down some White House, watching fireworks from the tiki bar, and hanging with PFC Caniz. We got to head to out to with the flotilla to Lake Boca for Kim’s birthday, to the G Love concert in Pompano for Jen’s birthday (even though Rafal and I were the only ones who knew any G Love), and got to take in a dozen or so lobsters during the first day of mini-season with Fred, then made it to work by 10am. We also headed down to Key West with Abbye, Brandon, and his cousins, and got to head out to a remote Key with no name on Erica and Randy’s boat, then have a Sunday Funday at the Rum Barrel and another long drive home, this time by Jen.

Labor Day weekend tried to get Jen to Key West for Sari’s bachelor party, but Tropical Storm Hanna relocated them to South Beach while I headed to the Gulf Coast for some Jim Morris and a butchered round of golf. The following weekend, Guido and I went to Cleveland to watch a Cowboys whupping of the Browns, preceded by a heck of a tailgate on Lake Erie. Somehow, we didn’t get booted out with a large Pac Man sign, and I didn’t go for a swim. The fall brought a lot of travel for work, as well as a couple weekend trips, first to Bimini, then to Tybee Beach, GA. Bimini with Fred and Doreen and Justin and Maura was a lot of fun, even for those of us who decided to drink a weekend’s worth of rum on Friday night. We got to spend a lot of time in Tybee with Carolyn and the rest of the Williams clan, even if the weather was decidedly un-beach like.

The end of October brought one thing – the Phillies run to being World Champions – “World F***ing Champions” in the words of Chase Utley. Five games – but six nights – at the Parrot resulted in one wild celebration (which resulted in one banged up cell phone) and I’m still annoying half of South Florida with my World Series stuff. We also had a PSU-OSU game thrown in with Game three there, even if Iowa screwed the master plan up a couple of weeks later (be thankful Florida fans, or else it’d be PSU-Oklahoma in a rematch from the ’86 Orange Bowl). November brought some more work travel for me, sandwiching a trip to Philly for a Friday night out with the guys and a great wedding Saturday for Corey and Eric. We hosted our very first holiday here, Thanksgiving, and Jen made an impressive turkey dinner for us, after the Shady Banks Turkey Bowl. We also had Sari’s wedding at the Ritz that weekend, which was a great time. And we hit the home stretch of 2008 getting ready to head to NJ for Christmas.

All in all, I’d say that was a pretty fantastic year. Here’s hoping 2009 is filled with plenty more great memories! And now, it’s time to send this, sign off, go to bed, and wait for the Autoresponses and Undeliverable to come back en masse.

Christmas is comin'...

2008-12-09T23:26:00.005-05:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year... and also the most stress-inducing. Kinda hard to believe this is what the Magi expected their little journey to evolve into, huh? We do have the outside lights up, the tree is decorated, presents are bought (well, most of them), we're even mostly packed for our Christmas Eve trip to NJ. Still, it's been a little tough getting into the spirit of things this year - we're both working a lot, we're trying to get more done on the house (door casings and baseboards are our next adventure), and get everything done so that Christmas itself won't be too crazy. So, to try and get more in the mood, some non-traditional Christmas songs...

So toss in Buffett's Christmas Island cd, make a drink of holiday cheer, and embrace the holiday spirit as much as possible. Now, time for me to get to work, where there's definitely NOT a lot of Christmas spirit (we're moving our HQ to Phoenix and 100 of us are losing our jobs sometime between now and 2010).

Jimmy V and other Ramblings

2008-12-07T18:58:00.001-05:00

A few other random tidbits

First, it's the Jimmy V week on ESPN. The V Foundation, started by legendary coach and broadcaster Jim Valvano shortly before his death, raises money for cancer research. As a cancer survivor, and the descendant of three deceased grandparents with cancer, it's obviously something that hits close to home - and has hit close to home (or at home) with many family and friends. Jimmy V's battle against cancer was courageous, but the marks he made on the hardcourt will one day pale in comparison to the difference he's made, 15 years after his death, with the V Foundation. Find a quiet ten minutes in your day and take in his 1993 ESPY speech. It's never failed to put a lump in my throat or tear in my eye. RIP Jimmy V, your mind, heart, and soul are indeed living on forever.
OJ... the Juice is definitely NOT loose anymore. Sad stuff. Although I don't buy this was for this crime alone - right or wrong, there was paybacks from 14 years ago. For all you guys who want to feel old, remember where you were when Simpson and Al Cowlings were rolling down the highway in the white Bronco. We were - surprise! - at Schultzy's house having a party. I'm not sure there would have been much of a social life at Eustace if we didn't have Chad's, Bulldog's, Medford Lakes, and the shore houses of Bitonti and Falese. Anyways...
Speaking of idiot athletes, this is the funniest thing I've seen about that moron Plaxico (or anyone else) in quite a while. I hope Jay or some other Birds fan brings it to the Meadowlands this weekend; at the very least, I hope one of the Eagles has the cojones to take the BSG's suggestion: "I'm still disappointed that a receiver didn't honor Plaxico Burress last weekend by catching a touchdown, then pretending to shoot himself in the leg with the football and limping around."
Shameless plug for a friend - check out Jeanie Callen Barat's new website - thefitnessjeanie.com. Good luck Jeanie!
Political links - Joe Biden sounding Dubya-like, proving in politics stupid isn't exclusive to one party. Mike Ditka had an off-chance of affecting the 2008 Presidental race - how much is debatable, but still, interesting "what if". From Howard Stern, Sal in Harlem - had I gone to the early voting place by where I work (a predomindatly black neighborhood) and worn a shirt with "I'm voting for McCain because we're both Irish", it wouldn't have gone over very well, to say the least. Be happy your boy won, but don't ignorantly vote for someone because of race.
More Phillies (get used to it) - Game 5 apparently paid off before it was even over. Mitch Williams, all is forgiven. Also, ESPN.com's "experts" are a bunch of morons. Not one picked the Phils to even MAKE the Series, much less dominate it - and this was done the day the playoffs started! And then there's this guy (in the hat), what the $%# ?!?!? And if you haven't seen Little Will firing up the crowd at the parade, it's pretty funny.
I've heard of some angry divorced women before, but this is ridiculous. Actually, I'm surprised this didn't happen at CMU...
For those of you who only drink bottled water...

November Update

2008-11-30T11:59:00.000-05:00

What a busy month, so much for updating this more frequently. Plenty going on down here in South FL - and other places. A couple of big things in the five weeks that the Phillies have reigned as World Champions (World Ph*cking Champions!), so here's a quick recap what Jen and I have been up to:

The job. As of today, my company officially merged with Allied Waste, which means the clock is ticking on my time at Republic. I don't worry as much as Jen does about this, since I'm on two fairly important projects now (I spent the first two full weeks of Nov out in Scottsdale, AZ for the merger - traveling can really be tiring). Still it's somewhat unsettling to have the full responsibilities of being a "grown up" and staring at yet another job change.
Speaking of travel, we got to head to Philly for my cousin Corey's wedding - pictures here. It was a great weekend and wonderful wedding, even though we got there late because the bride's brother-in-law (uh, I guess that makes him my cousin in law) Mark took us the slowest way possible from Cherry Hill to Camden. Otherwise though, great ceremony, fun reception, some good food, and plenty of drinks. It is the Irish side of the family. Congrats Corey and Eric - and their adorable boy Cameron!
Also that weekend, we had quite a Friday night in Philly. I arrived early, and after eventually making my way to Jeff's, he and I met up with Lehman, Caniz, and Rick for happy hour... you can probably guess how this went (click the wedding pics above and look at the first few for a glimpse). Poor Jen - she had an earlier flight and because of some work stuff, she had to take the later one - which of course got delayed because of the weather. So she didn't get there until 1am, so you can imagine the freak show she walked into. Oh yea, Martin is drinking again, I remember why we used to get in so much trouble down here. Great time fellas, it was nice to come home and not have to juggle a while bunch of conflicting plans and just head out for an old-fashioned night out at home. Good times.
Thanksgiving in Florida... what another fun, tiring, eventful weekend. It was a weekend of firsts - first holiday in our new house, first "real" holiday being married, first time hosting Thanksgiving dinner, first Shady Banks Turkey Bowl, first swim in the canal, first FL high school football game (Jen's HS is #2 in the nation). Heck, even first wedding for Sari. See below for all the details.
The Turkey Bowl was a success - unless you were Trevor or Mike and had to nurse a weekend warrior injury on Friday. At one point (once the Opre brothers showed up) we had 13 guys out there. In the end, we took an OT W/tie, giving those guys the last two possessions to make up a 5-3 deficit. They did. Oh well. Jen hosted the ladies with Mimosas, and they got to cheerlead for some of the game, even being impressed with some of our "athletic ability". Obviously the gals haven't been around top-quality athletes in some time. Still, it was a TON of fun, and we're going to figure out how to have a monthly football game here. To top it off, the first swim from our dock took place after a few post-game beverages; I've been itching to hop in the canal but just haven't done so yet. Now that the ice is broken, I'll be in our "temporary pool" much more often. For the record, the water is brackish, almost freshwater, and warm, and the bottom is just coarse sand and not the Jersey Shore muck I'm used to.
Dinner was at our house; Luke and Lyn got a last minute trip to Europe that left Thanksgiving night, so we scrambled a bit and pulled off one heck of a meal. Jen was QUITE the Betty Crocker in the kitchen; I was pretty darn impressed. We only had 7 of us for dinner, but it was quite a bit of fun. Mike was in charge of the turkey fryer, Grandpa brought the desserts (well, there were a bunch of desserts there from the Turkey Bowl), our friends Sam and Julie took care of some of the sides, but Jen was the hostess with the mostess. I took care of the "entertaining", limping around to fill everyone's drink. We had a great time, even Grandpa had plenty to eat and drink, and (as the pictures show) the Sambuca took quite a hit. A great first holiday in the Sharpe house!
Saturday night we had Sari's wedding, preceded by Florida-FSU fiasc, er I mean, game. I was sporting the old school CMU #86, which vaguely resembles FSU's jerseys. It didn't help. They got spanked. As the game wound down, we got dressed, I pimped it out in the tux (black tie wedding), and we headed to the Ritz-Carlton. It was quite a place (an understatement) - the pics are at the end of the Thanksgiving link. Congrats to Sari and Michael and we'll see you guys out in LA one of these days soon! Oh yea, quick post-script, Fred and I got dressed in the tuxes on Sunday and had bloody marys (and a few other drinks) around Fort Lauderdale. I can't imagine what everyone was thinking (other than what the F is wrong with these fools in tuxes and flip flops), it's just too bad there was no 1pm Eagles game at the Parrot. Oh yea, and I helped Fred take his boat out too - even piloting it from his Dad's place to the ramp around the corner. It's not a big deal for most guys down here, but when you're in a tux, you've had a few drinks the day after a long Saturday night, and it's your 2nd or 3rd time behind the helm in about 5 years, you tend to worry about things such as ramming into something or sinking the damn thing. It was fun to be behind the wheel though - Jen and I definitely need a boat someday soon!

Phinally Champs!

2008-11-04T07:04:00.003-05:00

I'm sure the three people who read this are tired of hearing me go on and 0n about the World Series. There's not much I can add to the extended coverage (ok, "extended" being last week on philly.com and some SportsCenter spots) although I am pissed that ESPN2 didn't get the parade on like they did for the Sawx in 2004. Then again, they might have had advance warning on Utley's sweet speech - tell 'em Chase! A few things before we hit the showers this morning:

Haven't seen many teams play that cohesively in recent memory. Yea, they collectively stunk with runners in scoring position, and it's not like any particular Phillie picked up the team and put them on his back. The little guys did a little bit of everything to win the game, and that's what separates the champs from the good teams. Philly sports have for the most part been good teams in the last 25 years, but almost to a fault, they didn't have that contribution from the non-headliners when it mattered most.
Cole Hamels might not be the most overpowering guy on a big league mound, but there's very few other guys I'd want out there when it mattered. And the kid is 24. It seems like he's been in the bigs for quite awhile, but this was only his third season.
I've got too much Phillies stuff to upload, so just go over to the700level.com for pretty much everything I'd want to link to. Take a look at Harry the K...with accompanying video for sure, it's 12 minutes of what baseball should sound like.
I missed the biggest party in Philly in God knows how many years, and yes, I was jealous. Work sucked that Friday... I should have been here instead.
Work also sucked on Thursday because the Parrot became a zoo scene on Wednesday night. There were bottles of champagne being sprayed everywhere, the place was LOUD for the entire 9th inning, and shots were lined up everywhere. Guys (and gals) were going nuts, and the normal Parrot crew - John, Pat, John, Josh and Erin, a bunch of guys whose names I always forget, even Opre - went nuts together. Of course, I made it an interesting night by forgetting to sign off my tab, taking a cab halfway home then hopping out, and somehow ending up by Beach Place where an EMS guy gave me the once-over when he found me stumbling around in the grass. Whoops. Luckily Opre happened to pass by and was able to convince these guys he could give me a lift home. Probably celebrated a little too much, but hey, it was 25 years, whaddya expect? And I temp. lost my phone too - luckily some dude found it and got it back to me, although the screen is busted and the memory chip doesn't seem to have any of the pictures and videos I got.
Finally, there's a great post somewhere on the700level.com that talks about who this championship was for. All those fans who have suffered as adults, the guys my age who were in 2nd grade when Tommy Gee skipped class to go to the parade and I mistakenly figured I'd have my chance to go soon, for my cousins who are in high school and at GMU and Temple who have only known sports frustration.... it's for everyone, and unless you have lived through it with the dedication and heartbreak similar to Philly sports fans, you won't understand. I hope someday soon my buddies from Cleveland get their day, 'cause it's a chill-inducing feeling that brings a goofy smile to my face every time I think about it. So for Dad and Jay, for my cousins and uncles and Johnny Santarpio, for the Eustace fellas, and Caniz and Freed and Lehman and Jeff, for the Parrot crew, and the many, many people (most of whom I know only by face or first name) that I've shared the ups and downs of Philly sports with (and yes, that includes Jen)... this one's for you. Enjoy it. We've earned it. And thank you to those 25 guys and Uncle Cholly for reaching the summit. You've earned a place in our sporting hearts forever.

Time to get to work. I'm sure I'll have my first political post tonight or tomorrow. In the meantime, it's been all of 7 days and the World Champs - excuse me Chase, that's World Phucking Champions - are still making me smile.

Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel (sort of)

2008-10-29T18:43:00.003-04:00

After a full day and change of anxiety, nerves, Selig-directed anger, and emotional blood-letting, it's on. I'm nowhere near the fever pitch of Monday night, but that'll change in the next hour. The thing that worries me the most - this is a sprint. The team that scores first in all likelyhood is going to win; since the Phils have an extra AB, they certainly have the edge there, but anything can happen in the cold at the Bank. If they start out slow - and these Phils can certainly start slowly before all those late-inning heroics - they don't have the time to make up runs over 9 innings tonight.

Soooo.... Same shorts and shirts from Monday night, same hat, sandels, and yes, even boxers. It's been 25 years... taking NO CHANCES here. The wife needs to get her butt home soon, so we can get there. And DAMN YOU BARACK OBAMA for pushing this back even further. Philly can't take this. My liver can't take this. *I* can't take this. Go Phils.

Why, God, Why?

2008-10-28T07:58:00.003-04:00

If this doesn't cause you to at least pause and question the Almighty's apparent disdain for the sports fans of Philadelphia, then you have much stronger faith than I do. 10 outs away with a 1 run lead and Hamels cruising, and the Big Man decides to ratchet up the miserable weather. He even opened the door for Satan's Lapdog (aka Bud Selig) to decide to wildly interpret the set of rules governing baseball, and not call the game. Yes, winning the World Series like that would have been anticlimatic... still, I don't quite believe things have turned out like they did. This is agonizing. C'mon, God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, throw us a bone here. 25 years is long enough...

(P.S. While you're at it God, do something vile to that a-hole who stole the Sirius radio out of my Jeep last night.)

The Final Hour

2008-10-27T19:17:00.007-04:00

I have a $100 ticket to Game 6 sitting in Tampa with my brother in law Matt that I hope I never see (the ticket, not Matt). I had a ridiculously difficult time concentrating today at work, the day dragged on forever. I just spent 20 minutes trying to pick out what to wear to a bar on a Monday night (dark camo shorts, Howard jersey over "Man or Machine" shirt of Krukker, blue Phils hat, and my Croc flip flops). I've got "The Rocky Story" blaring, and I've been randomly shouting at the TV every time they show something about the World Series. Every time I think about how tonight might go - check that, SHOULD go - I get chills. To all the Philly/Jersey guys, I wish I was there with you to enjoy this, but I'll do my best to bring a little bit of Broad St. to A1A. Come on guys - 27 more outs until you carve out your place in the annals of Philadelphia and the hearts of every sports fan from the Delaware Valley. Like Fred Shero said, "Win today, and we'll walk together forever".

LET'S GO PHILS!!!!
(photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/pompomflipflop/)

27 outs

2008-10-26T23:31:00.004-04:00

What a weekend. I'm pretty much a permanent resident of the Parrot at this point, with Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday nights all being spent there. Jen and I did curtail it early tonight (left after 6), mostly because last night was soooo late there - of course, it was our 6th month anniversary too, so we left early for a romantic dinner (OK, early being 10pm and dinner being Primanti Bros while watching the end of the game at home). Combine the HUGE PSU win and a late-starting rain delayed World Series game, and it ended up being 3:30 before the cab finally dropped us off at home. The place was PACKED, with the PSU and Phillies games on every other TV and the PSU audio inside, and Phils outside. Needless to say it got a little crazy - OK got a lot crazy. Shots flowed, high 5's everywhere whenever something good happened (Devlin's TD, the game-ending INT, all of Ruiz's heroics...)

And now, we have less than 24 hours to wait for what could be the biggest moment in Philly sports history in the last 25 more years. Tomorrow night is going to be ridiculous. 27 more outs... 27 outs and it's all over. 27 outs...

Game 1

2008-10-23T08:39:00.002-04:00

It wasn't the prettiest win, but that's OK. It was a win. A World Series win. We'll take it. Three batters in, Chase gave us a lead. Cole rode it the rest of the way. It wasn't perfectly pretty, but it's a W. A great night at the Parrot. Three more...

The Day is Upon Us

2008-10-22T18:29:00.008-04:00

First pitch to J-Roll in 2 hours. I’m beyond amped for this game; it’s like pre-game at Gesling Stadium, only on a scale about 1,000,000 times more magnified (actually, a million might not be enough). Departing for the Parrot in 35 min; unfortunately my $100 tickets to the game fell through, although Barnebie’s cousin tried his best to hook me up. According to two different people at the Trop, tickets are going for face value or below. Ridiculous for Game 1, Tampa doesn’t deserve this. Still trying to decide if i can get out of work in time tomorrow to get there for game 2. Got my NLCS shirts courtesy of Dad and Jay ready to go, even sporting powder blue boxers to channel my inner Bob Walk. This is it…

LET'S GO PHILLIES!!!!

P.S. Joe Buck is a complete jerkoff - I hope he gets hit by a bus... no, this bus...

P.P.S. 1-0 good guys

And We're In!!!!!

2008-10-16T00:32:00.001-04:00

Phillies 5. Dodgers 1. 2008 National League Champions.

Another dominant performance by their 24 year old stud ace. Another game where they won as a team. Another great defensive performance (Chase and Shane especially). No idea how I'm expected to go to bed tonight (unlike my wife, who slept through the *ENTIRE* game). You would have thought there was something else on TV tonight that was more important than Game 5.

Screw the Dodgers and their sushi-eating fans. Tickets were selling in the lower level at their stadium were on stubhub for less than face value today. Losers. Go kill yourselves with $18 Red Bull Martinis in your smoggy atmosphere. And while we're venting, I'm already sick of seeing the goddamn Joe Carter home run, so enough already Fox and ESPN. Seriously.

The next two weeks are going to be fun. If you can't get on board with a team like this, then you don't appreciate what team sports is all about. (or you're a New York fan) This can only get better if Tampa closes it out and I'm a drive (a long drive, but a drive) away from 4 games. I sense a mid-week flu coming on. The biggest thing I noticed - the on-field celebration was not too crazy. These guys mean business. They want more. Four more.

And we want it too. See you next week in St. Pete.

If You Think I Look Bad, You Ought to See How I Feel

2008-10-13T07:55:00.010-04:00

A trip to Bimini sounds soooooo nice. Fred eased down the throttle as we approached the small and westernmost of the Bahamas, I couldn't help but think that that it's pretty amazing to live 50 miles/90 minutes from the northwest corner of the islands of the Caribbean. The small twinkling lights came into focus, and as the island's contour came into focus under a bright 3/4 moon, the smell of a beach firepit mixed with the salty sea air personified everything a Buffett ballad is supposed to represent. We docked up right behind the condo Fred got - our place was pretty sweet, Bimini Sands, on South Bimini, with a balcony overlooking the beach and sunset and a boat dock right out the back door and across the path.

Turns out that intoxicating arrival may have felt so good because it *was* as good as I felt all weekend. Goombay smashes on the ride over definitely got the ball rolling, and Crazy 8's Island Style put me over the edge. After traveling cross country twice for work already this month and landing from Vegas at midnight the night before, my body did not adjust well to an overabundance of rum. So I spent most of Saturday (and a good deal of Sunday) under the weather. My travel companions - Jen, Fred & Doreen, and Fred's friend's Justin and Maura - gave me the requisite amount of shit for being a wreck on Saturday morning; some redemption was had when I had a fever that was as high as 102 and lasted until Monday night. (see? I wasn't just a wuss all weekend) And despite battling fevers and Irish flus, I did all the fun stuff both Saturday and Sunday:

skin diving for lobster (can only snorkel in the Bahamas, so while Fred & Co. got 8 keepers, the best I did was snag a toddler of a bug that they threw back)
Snorkeling wrecks - an old barge, some reefs, and an upside-down Curtiss C-46 airplane that was pretty damn cool
Fish - luckily we caught enough lobster to survive because fishing didn't go so well

So in hindsight, Bimini is a great place, just don't try and squeeze in all your fun on Friday night. The pictures do a better job showing the weekend then I can do typing it up, so without further ado...

Our Pics (with a broken camera none the less):
http://www.dotphoto.com/Go.asp?l=tsharpe2&P=&AID=5582517&T=1
Doreen's Pics:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=11kbvjee.46yazg4m&x=0&y=-ehngom&localeid=en_US

NLCS Gambling

2008-10-08T22:55:00.008-04:00

From ESPN.com's Jayson Stark: The Marlins have been around for 16 seasons. They've won six postseason series. The Phillies have been in existence for slightly longer than that -- like 110 years longer. But they've won only five postseason series. In the history of the franchise.

So this is what it comes down to for us Phillies fans, and the generations of fans before us - my wife has been "rooting" for her Marlins for half her life, and she's already seen more wins then me and the three Thomas Sharpes that came before me.

Time to hit the blackjack tables, and the sports book. How to bet (*if* to bet) the NLCS is driving me crazy. Part of me thinks push all in on the Phils, which just means I don't know the concept of "all your eggs in one basket". Part of me thinks to bet on the Dodgers, which would soften any blow or lose me some money, and I'd feel like a douche. So maybe (probably) the best move is to avoid the sports book altogether. Regardless, after one night of sleeping, and another of stuffing myself at one of the best steak places I've ever eaten at, it's time to hit the casino for a bit and get us some money for Bimini.

UPDATE: Planet Hollywood sucks. There's only one redeeming thing about the gaming at this place. The only decent game I could find here was a $10 single deck blackjack game, which on the surface seems pretty good except for 6-5 payouts for a Cannon and a face card. It took me less than 15 minutes to fork over my 80% loss limit (including a $25 match play that got sucked up by this Asian's blackjack) and walk meekly to the slot machine; luckily I hit for 800 nickels on the Wild West slot, recouping some of the losses. And the sports book was closed, which means, by default, I went the "no bet" route. Too bad we're going to be eating sand crabs and jellyfish in bimini unless Fred and I come up with some lobster. And I guess my new tattoo didn't work much tonight, either... So much for the luck of the Irish.

Also, after reading the rest of that Stark article above, I completely agree with him. Baseball fans across the country have/had this "poor them" thing for the Cubs and Red Sox fans, but it's exponentially more than what it would be for the franchise that has LOST THE MOST GAMES IN ORGANIZED SPORTS HISTORY. And won ONE World Series. I don't feel bad for them at all; if anything, Cubs fans should be rooting for the Phils, in a kindered spirit kind of way. As for the Sox fans... well, you and your Nation have worn out your welcome pretty much everywhere south of Foxwoods, so any goodwill from "1918" has long disappated. It's our time.

The Two Stooges

2008-10-04T11:12:00.003-04:00

I love my wife dearly, but put her and Stacy (one of her best friends and bridesmaids) together and dumb stuff happens. Just in the two hours this morning, they've managed to:

Lock Stacy's keys in her trunk
Park right next to a "No Parking" sign
Fail to figure out who was taller in the 15 years they've known each other
Take an abbreviated bike ride to the liquor store that is 5 miles away (they got as far as the end of the driveway before realizing neither one had long enough legs to ride my bike; in retrospect, this might have been a good thing, cause God only knows what could have happened in that 10 mile round trip)

And this is all before 11am. Now we're heading to the FSU-Miami game, and then to a concert in West Palm, so it's not like things are going to be getting any calmer. Now I just gotta go find the camera since words don't usually do their antics justice... :)

UPDATE: The FSU game ended up being a complete rainout but at least the won. The girls had fun but we missed the concert afterwards.

1601 Construction Updates (Go Phils)

2008-10-01T17:35:00.002-04:00

Between travelling for work and recent social trips, it’s been a tiring month of September so far – and October isn’t going to offer many reprieves, with visitors the next two weekends and my work trip to Vegas. Doing home improvements has taken a back seat for most of the month to the daily grind, so with a full weekend off of any real obligations, it was time to get to work. Of course, we started it out at Dolphins Stadium, watching the Phils lose, but both Friday and Saturday nights ended up being (relatively) tame nights. Early Saturday morning, I was digging up a couple of irrigation lines so that a new driveway could be poured; I was glad I got up early enough since 7 guys in several trucks rolled through Shady Banks around 7:30am and began digging up the yard next to the existing driveway as soon as they got there. 3 hours later, it was expanded 10 feet to the right and completely asphalted over, and we had ourselves a new driveway.
While the driveway was getting knocked out, Richie and a couple of guys from his Lukes’ Landscaping crew came over and knocked out a new fence. The old lousy chain link one and all it’s accompanying vegetation got ripped out; in its place (and where no fence was on the south side) is a nice wood 6 footer with gates in the middle. The north side is now ready for Mike to do some AutoCAD planning to see how we can make this place look a bit like the tropical paradise Jen and I pictured when we took the plunge.
To add to the fun, Schaen’s been over, doing mud work to the ceiling of the Florida room and the 2nd bathroom. By the end of the month, both of those rooms should be sanded, painted, and redecorated, and pretty much ready to go (Jen wants new tile in the Florida room, but the stuff we have in there now is serviceable, if not beautiful, so it’s not going anywhere anytime soon). And we’re adding two new exterior doors, in the FL room and office, to go with the impact windows we should be getting in early October. The only other thing to get done then will be a slider door where the windows are in the Florida room, but that might be pushed out to sometime in 2009 for fiscal reasons.

BIG W today for the 2008 NL East Champs Phillies. They're set to take the Brewers down, one game already done, two to go, and we can only hope the Dodgers and Cubbies push each other to the brink. I know, I know... a Philly fan can never get ahead of himself. Still, things are aligning much better this year then they did last year (although the lack of offense is still concerning). This afternoon, though, Cole Hamels threw an utter gem, no runs and only two singles over 8 innings, with 9 K's. Lidge gave a little life to Milwaukee before (finally) slamming the door. It's hard to believe, but Hamels is only 24 and is the youngest player on their roster. This is going to be a fun October.

The OC

2008-09-26T16:48:00.003-04:00

Got to experience the not-so-glamorous side of Orange County this week – apparently, Consolidated Waste Services’ HQ isn’t Laguna Beach. A week of installs and good meals gave the sense that everyday California isn’t much different from many other places around the country and day to day suburbia is alive and kicking from coast to coast. Nothing crazy, got to see Goldi and Seema last night and Jen’s friend Sari and her fiancée Michael on Wednesday. My coworker who went out with us both nights probably won’t ever want to hear wedding talk again – Goldi got married two weeks before us, and Sari ties the knot in November, so wedding and newlywed talk was rampant. God, that sounds old. The highlight of the trip, other than seeing friends, was unquestionably lunch at In-N-Out Burger. Since Avi introduced to this oasis nearly 10 years ago in San Diego, it’s a must-have for any trip out west. I’m actually disappointed I flew out so early on Friday, thus not being able to bag a couple for the trip back home for dinner (oh yes, that’s been done before, on the redeye to boot). For those who haven’t had it and are flying west of the Rockies, Google yourself one of their locations, then find out all the stuff that’s not on the menu (since the menu only has Single, Double, Fries, Soda, and Shake on it). Do it, don’t think about the caloric intake, and enjoy one hell of a meal. You can thank me by bringing me back a Double Double (or Triple Triple) Animal Style.

Part II
The trip also confirmed that my family and friends have it right when they leave within a stone’s throw from the coast – any coast, apparently. The Lefevers lived within stumbling distance from the beach in Santa Monica for awhile until heading back east, and Avi and Jeanie are somewhat proximal to the Pacific Beach area of San Diego, one of my favorite destinations. Makes you wonder what those in Eufaulu, OK (just passed at 30,000 ft) think when they get their first taste of salt air and mother ocean – and why they head back to middle America. I suppose my incomprehension means I’m just meant to be near the sea.

Got to watch USC take one to the chin from Oregon State, in Mark Sanchez’s stomping ground no less – the same Oregon State team that the boys from State College thrashed 45-3 in Happy Valley a few weeks ago. Another good sports weekend looms – Phils, Brewers, and the Choke Artists Formerly Known as the Mets fighting for two playoff spots this final weekend, with the Phils a game up on both. PSU on national TV Saturday night against ranked Illinois. Dallas on national TV at 4pm on Sunday, looking for their 764th victory in the last 10 years against the Redskins (remember when this actually used to be a competitive rivalry?). Even the Beagles have a national game Sunday night, in what is going to amount to a crazy Sunday for lots of people in the Delaware Valley.

P.S. Speaking of Jersey, this was the license plate I saw parked down the street from Sari's house - I don't know why the hell I didn't steal it...

And NFL 2008 Begins...

2008-09-16T00:09:00.004-04:00

Does it get any better than the last two weeks? Seriously... first, I got to head to Cleveland for the Cowboys-Browns fiasco (if you're a cleveland fan). Ray and Tammy were great hosts for Guido and I, despite our Pac Man sign. Pre-Sunday, we actually were somewhat calm (all things considered), I even got to spend a few hours cleaning out the damn luxery van that has become a mobile tailgating Browns helmet (complete with a tap out the back, kudos to the Ardires). Of course, knowing Ray, Mark, and I, Sunday pretty much blew our semi-responsibleness out of the water (and to be honest, we weren't all that responsible the first two nights; Colby made Mark pull a Mr. Mom all Saturday when he showed up at 3am early Saturday morning) Sunday however was pretty much perfect. First, the Browns fans can tailgate, and they have possibly the best location in America, on a pier on Lake Erie (we were on the middle one, about 50 yards from the point). I'm actually surprised I didn't end up in the water, either by choice or by a drunken Cleveland fan. Dad is never allowed here, he'll be doing backflips off the van, Thornton Mellon style. The game itself was a surgical operation by the Cowboys; it was never close after the coin flip, thanks to an efficient offense, a swarming defense, and butterfingers galore by the Cleveland WRs, particularly Braylon Edwards. Note to Philly fans: don't believe the comparisons to the Dog Pound. I walked around with a TO jersey pretty much unimpeded all game. Two Browns fans threw some popcorn at some point (good job by them using the right props), but apparently they missed Physics in high school, since they wasted most of their $5 bucket hitting other Browns fans with wind-blown Orville Redenbauchers. A good verbal dismissal had other Browns fans offering their cell phones for me to call security on their fellow fans. This would NEVER happen in Philly, even if they were throwing grenades from 10 rows back and taking out families. Rest good, Eagles fans - you're still the soccer hooligans of North America, and it's not even close. Oh yea... and instead of going home after the 4pm game, we hit downtown Cleveland, then somehow made our way to the local bar by Ray's house. I don't know what time we got home, but I do know that Ray waking me up at 4:30 am for my flight home was one of the 10 most "please just let me sleep" moments of my life. I don't know how I made the flight, I just know that those flights (yea, a layover in ATL) suuuuuuucked. I felt "ok" sometime Wednesday afternoon.

Next, the Iggles come to Dallas for a MNF tilt. The only buzzkill about this is that I can't be at the Parrot starting some shit with the Eagles fans (believe it or not, this will be the first fall i've missed a cowboys - eagles game since i moved down) but I'll prob show up next week for the steelers-eagles game with TO on my back, to make up for lost time. Anyways, got to see the game at a place called Sneakers in Jacksonville Beach (b/c of work) and, ain't the world a small place, the guy I was sitting next to at the bar was a Eustace grad, class of '88. Obviously the cream rises to the top of the bar scene. It was a hell of an entertaining game, the best I've seen in quite a long time. Donovan, work on Handoffs 101 in Lehigh next year, and hey rookie WR - get ACROSS the goal line before you decide to do your best Leon Lett. (yea, I'm scared that the 'Boys passed on DeSean TWICE, and he's got two 100 yard games already)

Penn State is rolling through their early season schedule. I know... Syracuse, Temple, etc... but they look good. I'm not saying they are BCS Championship bound, but they have a team here, and after USC undressed the Ohio State Bills on prime time, the Big Ten is theirs for the taking. Just don't poop the bed JoePa, and try and keep enough guys out of jail to finish the season. Bring on the Buckeyes, the Badgers, and those embarrassing Wolverines.

Don't look now, but the Phils are bringing back the '07 magic. A half game back for all you ****sucking Mets fans, and tied with the Brew Crew for the wild card (Note: since I don't actually know a Brewers fan, I can't badmouth them; plus they have racing sausage, so we can tolerate them for now, on the off chance the Mets don't smoke the late season pole again). Since the 'Boys are on Autopilot now and this MNF summit is resolved, I can concentrate on the Phils and their run to October, especially since they will be in FL next weekend. Damn, and I said I was going to behave that weekend too.

Being that I am traveling this week and next, I need to get to bed or to work so I can actually pull off my training class tomorrow. It's nice to go to bed with a W like that dancing in your head though. Nice game Iggles fans - I'm trying to work a ticket to the last game of the year from Lefever, so bring your snowballs Christmas weekend, I'll be the a-hole in the blue 81 jersey smelling like spiced rum and apple cider. Hopefully, wearing the "Phils '08 WS Champs" hat...

Jen's Birthday and My Radio Debut

2008-08-26T23:59:00.003-04:00

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)

2008-08-10T22:59:00.009-04:00

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

2008-08-08T07:25:00.001-04:00

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

2008-08-03T22:16:00.010-04:00

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!

Ia Ora Te Natura - It's Lobster Season

2008-07-30T09:52:00.002-04:00

UA PAU TE MAITAI NO TE FENUA
RE ZAI NOA RA TE ORA O TE MITIE

"Bounty of the land is exhausted
But there's still abundance on the sea"

So goes the end of Jimmy's "One Particular Harbour", a nod to Cook's Bay in Moorea - listen to this clip from the end of the song, and you can hear the soprano voices in the background with those Tahitian lyrics. With that in mind, Fred and I hit the open water in search of spiny lobster as the mini-season for lobster began at 12:01am Wednesday morning. ("Mini-season" is a 2 day event that preludes the official commercial lobster season that starts next weekend) It's a lot easier to rise for the 5am wakeup call when there's diving and crustaceans involved, even if it means heading out before sunrise while passing shipping containers on their way into Port Everglades.

The water off the first of Ft. Lauderdale/Dania Beach's 3 reefs was packed with vessels and divers, so after floating behind the boat (Doreen's cousin Jeff drove) and running into divers left and right, we headed a little further south towards Hollywood and ended up with a nice spot without a boat for a mile in each direction. It was my first experience diving for lobster, and it was quite a rush. It takes some patience and a good eye to locate them in the underwater terrain, but once you get used to spotting them, the fun begins. You "tickle" them out of their hole with a stick, then pounce on them with a net as they shoot away from you. I got the hang of it quickly, Fred was an old pro and was digging into the coral outcroppings to get the real stubborn ones. I had to abandon the fight when my oxygen tank hit 50 PSIs (a full tank is ~3000, so there were only a couple minutes of air left) but floated to make sure Fred was OK and was able to get those last few. Plus, he had the catch bag, so if anything happened to him, I needed enough air to go down and get the bag (I mean, help him out)...

In the end, 14 of those suckers put up a good fight but lost the war, and only 1 got away (plus one more female that we didn't notice until back at the dock and let go; luckily we didn't get stopped on the way in b/c that's a pretty substantial fine). Fred and I had a great time and we'll eat good over the next couple of day. And I made it to work by 10:15, which assuredly was not nearly as much fun as diving for lobster. Full pictures here.

Random Links and stuff

2008-07-27T21:57:00.005-04:00

Back to the quick hitters - will try and post stuff here instead of emails.

As if there's a need for another reason to be a Flyers fan... (NSFW)
The Last Lecture CMU professor passed away last weekend...
The Spectrum is shutting down, what a shame, Flyers games at the CoreStates/FU/Wachovia Center (while great) just don't have the same atmosphere as those at the Spectrum (nor do Pearl Jam concerts on the Flyers bench). How the Daigneault goal didn't make the list is beyond me...
Man, you can't even try and be responsible while getting a load on these days...
Great story about a SEAL who made the ultimate sacrifice...
Biggest jerk tourists? Not the Americans, but... go figure... THE FRENCH!! F them...
I'm famous... ok maybe not...
Don't let old women with poor eyesight loose near the tiki bar!!
A brothel on wheels, right down on South Beach. Go figure
And finally, this could be the illegitimate son of any number of people I know.

The Phitans

2008-07-27T21:26:00.002-04:00

MLB All Star game week has come and gone, thankfully. Chase Utley’s performance wasn’t exactly stellar in Yankee Stadium but at least America got to hear how every Philly fan feels about the bottom-feeders that are New York sports fans. Whatever, he didn’t know his mic was on for introductions, and I’d bet plenty of Red Sox fans feel the same way after Papelbon got booed as well. My enemy’s enemy is my friend, or something like that (even if RSN is becoming the sports version of that friend of a friend that no one really likes). Besides, they might be shipping us their malcontent LF, which would be an interesting mix, to say the least. (I know, I spend way too much time on the700level.com)

At least those neanderthals cheered for John Hamilton and his comeback storybook season. And *had* Utley played the entire game, maybe he could have avoided the disaster of a night that Dan Uggla had – 3 E4’s, 3 K’s, and a GIDP after replacing the 2008 MVP. Me and my “Hit It To Uggla” sign were at Dolphins Stadium on the following Friday night. And finally, a big Chase Utley F You to Billy Wagner, the turncoat Mets reliever who shouldn’t have even been AT the game, much less IN the damn thing, for blowing the lead and costing the Phils home field advantage in the Series this year. Since the AL team will have Games 6 and 7 (again) this year, I’m now a big Tampa Rays fan. Now, if we could only get Selig to schedule a 162 game season against the Braves and their batting practice pitchers.

Making Up For Lost Time

2008-07-27T19:41:00.004-04:00

I never realized how little free time I really had (or how much free time I waste) until I tried to do this blog thing a couple times a week. Man, what a pain in the rear... We’ve been working so much on the house at night I haven’t been able to do much typing, let alone get some pics and all up here. Will try and keep
the blogs shorter and more frequent

It’s more than a little appropriate that we now live in Shady Banks. Those of you from the Hoboken days will remember the apartment on Washington St. that Ninja, Rogish and I shared as the “Shady Apartment”, and the 90 Grand place as the “Shady Palace”, so it’s only fitting that Jen and I now live in Shady Banks. The “Shady Shack” does have a ring to it…

Thanks to some super work by Mom and Dad and the Facarazzos last weekend though, it might not have the Shack moniker much longer. We had a backbreaking Saturday that started at 8am and didn’t end until well after the sun went down; the heat, humidity, and lingering effects of the Phillies-Marlins game probably didn’t help matters. It was as productive a day as we’ve had with the house yet though – all three bedrooms are now pretty much set up, the kitchen has most of the stuff put away, and outside is much more organized thanks to the shelves we got from the Heinemann’s getting put together. Jen and I also traveled out to get a fridge, dishwasher, and oven/stove from some guy off of craigslist, so now we’ll actually have a fridge that will keep things cold (and at some point, a real dishwasher). Thanks to Fred, Dad got to get a fully operational powerwasher, and spent a good deal of Sunday afternoon making things clean in the backyard. To end the weekend, we finally got a chance to shove off from our dock, Fred and Doreen took the Sharpes out for their first sunset cruise from the casa.

This weekend was no different - work work work and some play thrown in. Our terrazzo floors were refinshed this week, and although they are still a little hazy, the difference in color was pretty dramatic and as they get mopped up. Since doing the floors required us to move all the stuff the 'rents has just set up, we spent a good deal of the weekend moving that stuff back into place. Friday night was Home Depot, dinner, and sleeping on a mattress in the living room - half of the Frank the Tank pretty good little day. Saturday night turned into the *other* half - after another day of cleaning up, and some great work by James the electrician and his plumber, to get our dishwasher, disposal, ceiling fans, light switches, etc... Jen headed out to a little waterfront place for Catie's birthday dinner, and I was going to drive over and meet them there after finishing up a little more housework. Those plans quickly changed when Fred's boat pulled up with some rum-soaked revelers wanting to join Catie's party. It was a quick cruise to Rendezvous, and we had a good time - and also found out that Cheryl and rum do not play well together. The party continued back at the new place - despite being a mess, we were able to set the Wii up and play golf, tennis, bowling, etc... Cheryl and rum AND tennis definitely DON'T mix!! This of course made for quite a slow Sunday today, but as the weekend winds down we're ready to hit this coming week with plenty more to do - finish the clean up from this weekend's construction, sand down the LR wall, and choose what windows to put in this place.

So much for quick posts... (pictures coming)

Birthday Bash in Lake Boca, and Wii Got a New Distraction

2008-07-13T22:10:00.007-04:00

Mark this as weekend #3 that we didn't get a full weekend to work on the house; but I guess you shouldn't feel too bad as we spent most of Saturday on Kim and Jim's boat in Lake Boca celebrating Kim's birthday. (for all you non-Floridians, it's just through the Boca inlet from the Atlantic, it's a couple of feet deep where you can anchor up and hop out). Full pictures here.

Like usual when the gals get together down here, it was quite a day. Even though we probably should have been home working on the house, at 10:30 we hopped on the highway and headed north. Two boats ended up leaving Pompano beach heading for Boca, and eventually there were 5 (or 6 maybe) boats anchored up together for a day on/in the water. Kim's birthday present was this ridiculously large floating "hot tub" type thing that floated behind the boat, and corralled like 8 people at a time. It was even a great place to pass out, as a tired Kelly found out.

Unfortunately the rain clouds started to mass to the west, and even though Captain Jim was ready to weather out the storm for his wife's birthday, the anchor was pulled and Steel Towing and the rest the flotilla eventually headed back south to the relative safety of a Garden Islands harbour. We see some switched college allegiances, some "start-em-early!' parenting, several pool tossings (including the B-day girl), Kelly falling asleep again, and the party continuing despite some rain - gotta love the water-resistant camera. Thanks to Kevin and Belle (oops, wrong wife) for letting the loonies use their pool for the PM version of the party, and to Kim and Jim for having us on the boat!

Sunday brought us some much needed help from the Facarazzo family - both Jen's parents, her grandfather, aunt, uncle, Besty, and cousin all came over to help out. The biggest accomplishment? Setting up the Nintendo Wii, which is going to end up being our biggest barrier to accomplishing our house renovations. If you haven't tried this thing yet, find yourself a middle schooler with one and check it out for a couple of hours. It's definite entertainment, and from the little we have played, it can be somewhat of a workout too (well at least the boxing game breaks a sweat). However, I absolutely suck at Guitar Here (Mike has it) proving that no matter how good I think I am at video sporting games (something Jason and Casey both probably are laughing at) I am still a musical idiot even in a virtual world. Luckily, my wife is even worse than I am at the Wii Sports games, I've beaten her every time (save the first game when I didn't know how to play) in tennis so far. And, in true Sharpe form, she has already tossed the controller and pouted after the game. Our kids are going to be the worst sports EVER...

Independence Day at the Poynte

2008-07-06T20:13:00.006-04:00

So we’re off for our first trip since the honeymoon, and as much as I love the Jersey Shore, it might not be entirely the same as Bora Bora. On the bright side, things don’t cost an arm and a leg in Somers Point like they do in French Polynesia, unless you want to count Spirit Airlines, who charges $5-15 to reserve a seat ahead of time (even a middle seat) and $3 for a freaking Sprite. Needless to say, my dissatisfaction with their company continues. Of course I have a price point at which I will fly them regardless of their lousy customer service, but for every $24 round trip like we got for Jay and Trace’s wedding, there’s the 11 hours a flight was delayed from Ft. Myers to ACY years ago (landing on a Monday morning at 5am then having to drive back to Hoboken, THEN go to work) or their refusal to change our tickets last January when I mistakenly booked them on the Monday morning (rather than Tuesday morning) of my Grandmother’s memorial service. So keep sending me $1 fares for Tuesdays and Wednesdays and I’ll continue to use your airline only when it’s convenient AND cost effective. OK… Back to the shore…

The one thing Jen and I have noticed is that time spent “back home” is busy, to say the least. It is almost always a great time and as action packed a travel weekend as you can get, but man do we feel exhausted by the end of the weekend. It’s the unfortunate side effect of having quite a few people who like to spend time with us when we make it home, and for that we feel very lucky… just makes for a tiring Monday morning! I’m sure staying up until the crack of dawn on Friday night didn’t help, nor did the game of Crazy 8’s that had Caniz informing the tiki bar that his wife did indeed wear the pants in this relationship. Mixed in with all of the debauchery was some good time spent watching fireworks, fixing the hot tub, taking a boat ride (and having the inevitable breakdown, just a couple hundred yards from our house), some great eating courtesy of Mom (and white house hoagies from Rogish) and getting to see a whole bunch of family and friends. The highlight of the weekend though (if you can call it that) was Dad flipping the waverunner back in the marshes, then having to get towed in by Dave and Jimmy. A Tom Sharpe waverunner or boat incident is almost an assured event over a Poynte holiday weekend; luckily this didn’t happen when little Jackson Rogish was on board (Alison already nearly had a heart attack letting her boy out there). As dusk settled and the Tall Cedar came back with a Sharpe waverunner in tow (again), the I-95 A-hole song was replaced with Pat Franklin’s song (trying to keep it clean for the kids).

Sunday Recovery Day left us all pretty tired, but we did get to go to AC for Mom's birthday before we left. Lehman drove us to the Philly airport; quick side note, there was NO traffic on the ride up. None. We didn't even slow down at the EZPass lane on the Expressway toll. It was crazy, for a Sunday late afternoon holiday weekend. Thanks to everyone who stopped by for all or part of the weekend, and apologies to those we kept up too late or woke up in the middle of the night. It was really good to see everyone, and even if my body might not be back to 100% until Wednesday, it was certainly worth it.

UPDATE: I'm too lazy and buzy to actually link words to individual pictures, so here's the link to the weekend pictures. Enjoy...

UPDATE2: This is what soldiers look like when they are resting... thanks to lehman...

Movin' to 1601

2008-06-27T07:15:00.005-04:00

This will be a collaborative post throughout the entire weekend of our continued rehab of the house and moving in on Saturday. The roof trusses have been supported; our friend Kevin had a crew of guys who busted their butt and got it done in a day, so the roof is ready to go. We also finished removing the fake fireplace and the rest of the wood paneling, the living room wall is completely clear.

Thursday night we got a lot of painting done; we had someone start painting earlier in the week, but he wasn't getting the job done real well, so we (well, T.J. - Jen hates to paint!) took over the job. As of Friday morning, we have bedrooms 1 and 2 painted fully (a sandy tan), bedroom 3 needs one more coat ("mauvey tan" according to Jen), the office/spare room is done, and there's a coat on the south walls in the living room and dining room, plus the entire hall (a greyish/blue, although it is tough to see). Jen got the rest of the old drapes down, and removed grates that the paranoid old lady had put on every door - it looks much better without the grates on there.

Of course... just as things were looking good at 1601, the condo goes haywire. We got home at 11 Thursday night, and flushed the toilet... and it clogs. Unfortunately this time, plunging the toilet didn't clear the clog - it pushed sewage water into BOTH bathtubs. Letting it sit and hoping it would clear itself overnight didn't do the trick, either. So we have two bathrooms that smell like a sewer treatment plant and a plumber coming over this morning. Hopefully this is NOT a sign of how things are going to go this weekend.

UPDATE: The move was successful if not exhausting. I forgot how much crap I had, not to mention all of Jen's stuff. we got 90% of it on the Lukes' Landscaping box truck. Mike and I loaded about half the stuff from the condo and got a helping hand from one of the guys he works with. Poor Dave ended up being late to a BBQ and it was his birthday to boot, but he made the process soooo much easier. We got everything packed and there with only two minor mishaps: first, I wasn't paying attention and was moving a box that was light and had pillows on top, and mistakenly thought it would have nothing breakable in it. Whoops - these oversized wine/martini glasses I bought Jen for us to decorate after the wedding are now in the recycle bin. Second, despite a good showing by Mike and I fitting everything in there as efficiently as possible, there was one soft cooler that didn't have anything supporting it and was pretty much going to fall over as soon as we hit the gas. Since we couldn't get back to it, I tried chest-passing a few blankets back there to keep it up. Bad move, at least when there's a bed frame sticking out, and its metal corner digs into your forearm. Blood everywhere, for the next 30 minutes, and soon to be a permanent scar as a reminder how unfun it is to move.

So our crew got everything moved in, in the one main trip, plus a second trip to get a grill from Lyn's and a kitchen table from Julie, and a third trip on Sunday by Jen and I to get the last few things from the condo and from our storage. It's a little tight in here now, but we'll get it organized over the next couple of weeks. Lyn got us some stuff from Costco, Jen scooted out after the main load was emptied on Saturday to hit a baby shower, and Opre and I went to get the grill/table, while Luke stayed behind and had a landscape crew come through and pretty much nuke the bushes and wood deck in the front of the house. It looks soooo much better cleared out in the front than it did with all the bushes. Corrine and Schaen stopped by, and John and Cheryl FINALLY made it over after saying they'd be there in the morning. We were able to make some semblance of the living room so that we could at least relax a bit, waiting for Jen to get home from a never-ending Cuban baby shower that was still going after 5 hours. By that time I was pretty much beat, so after some grilling and champagne with them, it was bedtime - our first night in the new house! Thanks to everyone who helped!!

House Construction (Destruction?)

2008-06-24T23:41:00.005-04:00

Well we're in, so now the fun starts! We got a full day in on Sunday and a pretty good night in on Tuesday, although we're exhausted right now. We also have someone in there painting and got our friend Kevin to get some guys up there and do some repairs in the attic, so things are moving along. On Sunday, despite some torrential rain, we started taking down some of the tacky 70's wood paneling. It brightened the room up right away, as the wood and fireplace duet made the room feel smaller - although removing some of the 30 year old curtains probably helped too. Zoe was not a lot of help.

On Tuesday, T.J. cleaned up outside and kept removing the the wood paneling, while Jen took on the faux fireplace. Whomever put the darn thing in there really did a job - the fake brick facade concealed a mountain of cinderblocks, with some quickcrete in the openings for good measure. So Jen got to work (and has the blisters to show for it) getting through about 2/3rds of the concrete monstrosity before T.J. finished it off. Of course, we didn't have much of a plan for disposal, so while some of the debris made it back to our condo's dumpster, there's still a heap of concrete (and a layer of dust) laying on the floor. Can't wait for tomorrow... It looks a lot more open than it did before, with the fireplace and the wood paneling having both been scrapped.

The new house... almost... and we're in!!

2008-06-20T08:42:00.001-04:00

*Almost* there... a snafu in the mortgage application led to the closing being rescheduled for Tuesday, but God (and Countrywide) willing we'll be finalizing today. More updates tonight, hopefully with pictures!
UPDATE: The underwriters at Countrywide are a bunch of incompetent JO's, we're up to lunch on Wednesday and we still are waiting on them. Unbelievable, they still hadn't given a final review approval to a few things (like our marriage certificate) and it's getting ridiculous. We're hoping by this afternoon...
UPDATE II: Signed the documents last night, should have the sellers sign this morning and finish the transaction by lunchtime. What an exhausting day yesterday was, and we didn't even get the keys to boot. Jen and I went to bed before 9:30...
AND FINALLY
...We're in!! We got it!!! Click on the title above for the Google Map of the house. After a good deal of hassle, the keys were in our hands by 4pm. T.J. ran a few errands (including getting a microwave off craigslists for $20) and got stuff from the house, including one doggie, and met Jen at the house. We got ready and then walked into 1601 as ours for the first time.

There's a kitchen that needs some updating, a dining room, a living room with a fake fireplace that might not be real, but might be a little tough to move since it seems like it's made out of real brick. Off the living room is a small den that likely used to be a Florida room, with a side office/bedroom off it and a laundry room. The master bedroom faces the street, with what seems like the original bathroom. There's a second and third bedroom on the west side of the house, facing into the backyard and towards the water.

Ahhh the backyard. We have 33' of waterfront, with a dock that needs some new boards. Zoe loved having the yard but totally wanted to go in the water; at one point she snuck over to the neighbor's dock, so we had to build a temporary fence to keep her in. We loved being able to sit on the dock and dangle our feet over the water, even if Jen swore she would never go in (ha ha riiight!) because there were fish swimming all over like crazed poissons after happy hour. The front yard also offers a lot of space, and there's a side part of the yard that, once redone, will be nice. And one of the biggest selling points is that it is on a cul-de-sac AND is right across from a big park with a playground, baseball diamond, and basketball court. For where it is east of 95 and on the water, it offers a lot of land/space.

We had our first meal - delivery by Dominos, with some champagne (thanks Jules!) on the dock as the sun set. Not a bad start to many good days and nights with family/friends in that backyard. Click here for the entire album of pictures from the house.

Welcome to the 5PM SMWR blog

2008-06-13T08:56:00.000-04:00

OK here goes nothing... not exactly sure *what* this is going to turn into, but we needed a space to publish the honeymoon recap and other stuff, so let's see what happens. Below is our little honeymoon journal, some stuff from Phillies games, and some other stuff. Stay tuned for plenty of updates, especially with the house. If you have an RSS/Atom feed use this feed URL: http://5pmsmwr.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Link to the Rehearsal Dinner Presentation

2008-06-08T09:44:00.008-04:00

Right click here, or on the title above, and choose "Save Target As" and then save the .avi file to your computer. Trying to play it off the website without saving it to your local machine can cause your computer to crash. The file is 30 minutes long and 273 mb so it's going to take some time to download - about 5 minutes on a cable modem with a strong signal.

UPDATE: looks like this isn't playable in Windows Media Player or QuickTime. I'm looking to see if there's a DivX plug-in to use, but in the meantime, you can try VLC Media Player - http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html I use this for all my video files and it works great. Email me with any questions, and if i can find the DivX this week I will repost. Mac users you're on your own, link to any necessary downloads in the comments section if you find something that works.

Mauruuru Tahiti

2008-05-09T22:14:00.004-04:00

Our final day in French Polynesia gave us the chance for one final adventure, and we took it. Rather than stay in paradise for one more day of sun, sand, clear blue water, and the hotel food, we decided instead to hop on the first flight *back* to Papeete. Now this was definitely a “non-recommended” move, even from back when we booked the trip when the travel agent told me I’d want to stay in Bora Bora as long as possible. He was right – sort of… it’s not like we wanted to leave, but we hadn’t experienced any of the island of Tahiti, and we had heard so many good things about it. And once a year, the pro surfing tour stops there for one of their dozen major events… the Billabong Pro Teahupoo, which just happen to start on May 8th. So we hopped on the early plane, touched down in Papeete around 10am, and rented a car in search of the big waves of Teahupoo. Unfortunately for us (and for Andy Irons, Kelly Slater, etc…) the waves were the smallest they’ve been in awhile, so the start of the tournament was pushed back. All’s we got for our 90 minute excursion to the peninsula of Tahiti Iti was a pretty cool idea of what big wave surfing in Tahiti might be like had Mother Nature cooperated.

However, the trip wasn’t a waste just because the pro surfers were catching zzz’s and buzzes instead of 10 footers. True to our semi-adventurous honeymoon mindset, we took a trip around the rest of the island. Tahiti itself, outside of the urban-ness of Papeete, is a beautiful South Pacific island with lots to offer independent of its more noteworthy sister islands. After a long trip around the island where the beautiful turns in the road overlooking the ocean seemed to outnumber the guard rails on these winding roads, we found a small place overlooking the water and Moorea just outside of Papeete. We chowed down on lunch, and then got back in the car and headed away from Papeete, looking for an overlook that existed on the tourist map but was impossible to locate on three different trips past the region it should have been.

Since we still had plenty of time, we decided that we’d check out the waterfalls that we had heard about. After driving for a couple of miles on a small dirt road, we reached the parking lot and the path towards the three different falls. All of the sudden, the beach paradise we’ve known for the last week and a half turned into a tropical rainforest of sorts. The trail to the three different falls was covered with a natural canopy of tropical foliage, overhanging trees, and shadows of the nearby mountains. The world here was 10-15 degrees cooler than just down the dusty road, and the hot sandy air replaced by a cool mountain breeze. We hiked down mossy rocks and across semi-overgrown trails to the first waterfall, a tiny sliver out of the side of the mountain, then doubled back to go to the twin waterfalls down the other fork in the path. The cool mountain water was crisp and refreshing, especially considering that it was, well, FREE and ABUNDANT, something that in the resorts would cost us $4 for a medium bottle, yet here we could down all the cold, clear refreshing mountain water we wanted. To be honest, it tasted better than anything we could buy, either in Tahiti or at home. The twin waterfalls were beautiful, and although the temptation was there, T.J. (mostly) minded the “No Swimming” signs and only went in knee-deep.

After heading back to the car, we cruised around the northeast side of the island, watching the sun go down and the surf. Since we’d been walking and sitting in a hot car all day, a final dip in the Pacific Ocean seemed like a fitting way to cap our trip. We stopped at one of the black sand beaches, which at first just seemed like a dirty beach unlike those chalky white beaches in Bora Bora. However, once we got on the beach, the sand was a tannish-black (think the color of Guinness as it goes from the head into the rest of the glass) and very fine and comfortable. We went for our last swim, and T.J. finally got a chance to catch some body surfing waves, as this was the first break that wasn’t hundreds of yards out. A game of cards on the beach brought us to the brink of our last sunset, and we packed up the rental car and headed towards our lunch destination, which had a small outdoor shower we could use to rinse off (and when you’re flying at 10pm on Friday from Tahiti and arriving at midnight on Saturday night in Fort Lauderdale, you DEFINETELY want to rinse off). We stopped at an overlook and watched the sun sink into the clouds (despite the amazing colors in the sky, the sun rarely sets on a clear horizon in French Polynesia, according to the locals), then headed for our ghetto shower.

Rinsed off and changed, we reluctantly drove back into town, found the Faaa Airport, and returned our car, knowing that turning in those keys really marked the end of an amazing journey we could never forget, not that we’d want to. Sitting in the airport lounge (thank GOD for business class) playing cards and trying to get an internet connection to send an email home and check the Flyers score, the dawn of heading-back-to-reality slowly started to sink in, although not before we took liberal advantage of the lounge’s free alcohol. As we watched our plane taxi in – right at eye level, barely 50 feet in front of us – we both couldn’t help but think this was the end of a truly incredible 16 days that started when the first out of town relatives trickled into Fort Lauderdale. As sad as it was to go – and it was REALLY sad, bringing Jen to “But I don’t *want* to go!” tears multiple times – we both knew that it was simply the final step through the door that separated our lives as “Jen” and “T.J.” from our life together as “Jen and T.J.” And as hard as it is to leave paradise, it’s equally as comforting to know that when the plane touches down in FLL International some 24 hours (by the clock) later, we’d be starting another journey, together, that would be just as incredible, beautiful, and amazing as the best place we’d ever been. And the best place we’ll be back to, one day. “Muruuru” (thank you in Tahitian) for the memories, French Polynesia, we’ll see you again someday.

A Scuba and Spa Day As Our Finale

2008-05-08T10:11:00.003-04:00

Today we got up and ate another great breakfast to fill us up for the 2 dives we had this morning. There was an AMAZING rainbow early in the morning. At 8am, the dive boat arrived for us and we were off. Our first dive began with Jen doing a few more exercises, then Jen, TJ, the instructor and one other guy were off to explore the water. We saw a few black tip sharks and some much larger sharks, maybe 7 feet long, with yellow bellies. We also saw a morea eel, clams and a ton of other fish I can’t remember the names. On our second dive, we saw a school of eagle rays (bigger than this guy), TJ saw another shark, a flounder, scorpion fish, sea anomeas and much more. It was awesome – and best of all after the second dive, Jen was Open Water certified! We then were dropped back off at the hotel and had a quick lunch and headed to the spa for some R & R. Our spa appointments were at 4:20, but we showed up at 2pm to take advantage of the other spa activities and amenities.

We started our spa journey in our private spa suite that was a mini Jacuzzi with 2 lounge chairs and an umbrella, high on the hill of our Motu with spectacular views of mainland Bora Bora and it was private behind brick walls. Next we went into the steam room where we got nice and steamed up, then TJ took a dip in the “cold plunge” – the water was probably like 50 degrees. Jen thought he was crazy. Next we headed over to the tired leg massage trail which was a long skinny pool that you walked through and there were tons of jets spraying our legs in an incredible massage. Then we went into the spa pool where you could set a current to go and you could swim as if you were in a much larger pool – basically swimming in place. We quickly realized that we were way too relaxed to swim against the strong current, so we turned it off and made it a regular Jacuzzi and chilled for a few minutes. Somehow TJ talked Jen into going back into the steam room and then to jump into the “cold plunge.” It was very invigorating! Next we hit the rain showers and that was really cool. Finally, we were totally relaxed and headed to the tea lounge to have a cup of tea and wait for the massuses to come get us for our couples massage. A man and woman arrived, the man grabbed Jen (much to TJ’s delight), the woman grabbed TJ and we were off. Our massage room was amazing – the floors had holes in the ground where we could stare at reefs and fish swimming all around under us. Our massages were 90 minutes long and were just incredible.

We got home and were able to quickly shower up and we headed to the mainland Bora Bora to have dinner at Villa Mahana. Villa Mahana was a small, eclectic restaurant that had only 9 tables, 7 tables in the main parlor and 2 private tables in other areas of the villa. The food was absolutely incredible, the best food we ate on the island for sure. We both ordered different menus that were set and offered 3 or 4 different dishes so we were able to try some of everything. Food ranged from sashimi tuna salad, shrimp & caviar salad, banana encrusted mahi, gnocchi & tenderloin, lobster risotto, sorbet, and for dessert, chocolate sauce cake and bananas and ice cream. It was SO good! Then we headed home for our final night on Bora Bora. It was a fabulous day and a great way to end our stay in bora bora.

Dive Tests at Sunset

2008-05-07T10:06:00.001-04:00

Today we got up and ate another great breakfast, then headed to the front desk to ask our buddy, Pierre, if it was worth the time given up on Bora Bora to head over to Papeetee earlier so we can try to catch some of the Billabong International Surf Competition. Pierre told us that the atmosphere was awesome and that we should definitely go check it out. He said that we would have to rent a car then drive about 45 minutes to the other side of the island. From there, we would take a water taxi over to the reef and that is where everyone hangs out all day and waits for the surfers to surf. Sounded great to us, so we changed our plane tickets from leaving Bora Bora at 5pm to leaving at 8:15am – early, but we think it will be a great time to experience, though we are taking a chance because if the waves are small, there will be no surfing. Next, we headed to our room to relax on the deck of the bungalow as Jen prepared for her dive at 2pm.

At 2pm, the dive boat arrived to pick us up and we were off. This was supposed to be for Jen’s final instructional dive to receive her Open Water certification. Once we were out in the water, the dive instructor began talking to Jen and told her that she was not going to receive the Open Water certification since she still had to take several tests and a final exam that would take several hours. Jen was not having that after spending so much time on our honeymoon studying for this certification. After much going back and forth and the instructors speaking French fast and furious, Jen got a different dive instructor who said that if Jen agreed to take the tests for chapters 4 and 5 (10 questions each) and a 50 question final exam, she would be certified after two more open water dives tomorrow (which TJ could also participate in). (As an aside, the instructor said this seldom happened because no one wants to study and take tests while they are on vacation – imagine that). Anyway, the instructional dive was quick and painless and Jen passed as flying colors as TJ sat on the boat taking pictures – especially of Jen’s first attempt at a backward fall entry into the water off the side of the boat. Jen saw a few cool fish but they only stayed in the water long enough for the exercises, so nothing too exciting.

Tonight was our only night that we scheduled time to see a sunset on Bora Bora. Since the sun set on the other side of Bora Bora opposite of the motu our hotel was on, it was more difficult to catch an actual sunseting into the water than it was in Moorea. As Jen was taking her various exams, TJ was assisting by drinking many cocktails at happy hour. As it became obvious that Jen would not finish reviewing her test with the instructor before sunset, her instructor suggested that she come with us to the beach (not far from the hotel we were at) for the sunset.

So TJ, Jen and the dive instructor head to the beach for a romantic sunset and some instructional dive theory. (by the way, Jen passed with an 82 on the test!) it was actually helpful to have the instructor there so she could take some pictures of us at the sunset. After the sunset and Jen finished reviewing her test, the instructor left and Jen and TJ enjoyed the rest of the bottle of wine at the beach. We then walked a few blocks down the beach to have dinner at Café Matira Beach for dinner, which was delicious! Jen had John Dorry filet (no TJ, it is not a steak) and TJ had lobster risotto. We also split the lemon souflee topped with raspberry which was delicious! We then headed back to the hotel for a good night sleep since our dives started at 8am tomorrow morning!

A Lazy Day In Tahiti Beats A Good Day At Work

2008-05-06T09:58:00.003-04:00

Today was probably our first real “nothing to do” day since we got here – every other day has either involved travel or some sort of organized activity. It was nice to just relax and enjoy where we are. We woke up, got breakfast, and then hung out on our deck for a few hours, reading and playing cards – Jen seems to be getting very lucky at 500 Rummy in French Polynesia. We also decided that today would be a good day to enjoy having a few day drinks – “Tuesday FunDay” in Jen’s terms. We’ve been so busy that we really actually haven’t drank a lot out here, so to mix up a few vodka and island fruit juice (the REALLY good local fruit juice) helped put both of us in good spirits by lunch. Jen had “hours” of studying to do to finish up her scuba stuff – we found out that she’d have to finish her dives here to be able to go anywhere that had a good dive, so she’s doing her final technical dive tomorrow afternoon and then we both do two dives on Thursday morning. So she had to spend 90 minutes after winning at cards reading the last chapter and a half and figuring out dive charts, while sipping a vodka and fruit juice on the balcony of the overwater bungalow in the Bora Bora lagoon. Tough day… ::Jen butting in:: it was actually about 3 hours of studying – but I can’t complain that much! :)

After swimming in the lagoon and taking pictures of ourselves in the water and from the see-through coffee table in our bungalow (and T.J. using the 2nd level railing as a high dive), we wandered over to the pool to get a bite to eat and lounge over there. It was nice to just relax all day. Went to the happy hour and got a couple of drinks, then headed back here to get ready for dinner at the St. Regis.

The boat from the St. Regis picked us up at 8pm, and it was a great ride – we were in a very nicely done pontoon boat, that let us watch the stars as we headed to the St. Regis. The place was beautiful – even though we only saw a little bit of it, everything was five star. We had a drink at a table that was on a porch next to the concrete dock/footer and then moved to our table for dinner, which was the only table between our first table and the water. It was a great sight – the water was lit right there, and the fish were swimming all over the place. The food was REALLY good – we had lamb and grouper, and both were prepared and seasoned outstanding. Jean George or whoever the guy is really knows what he’s doing.

Peddlin' Around Bora Bora

2008-05-04T09:56:00.004-04:00

Our first full day on the island of Bora Bora!!! We woke up and just enjoyed the view from the bedroom window out to the water, the bungalows, the boats, and the mountains in the background as the sun was coming up. It is quite an amazing site. We got to go to the breakfast buffet (luckily, it’s included in our package here) and it was pretty good – similar to the IC Moorea but a step up to be sure. We came back and went for a swim around the bungalow, then got dressed and went on another exploration trip. We hopped on the IC’s ferry to the mainland early, and by 10:30 we had two OLD beach cruiser bikes with baskets on the handles – the neat-looking dune buggy was our first option but it was expensive and we think sold out, so we just opted for good ol’ pedal power – which actually turned out to be a lot easier and nicer than even we thought.

We stopped at a couple of black pearl places – they are nice, but certainly not cheap! We made the trip into the main town to check out the shops and then doubled back – it wasn’t a very far trip, about 10 miles round trip, and we stopped to check out the scenery quite a few times, which helped to break it up. The island is as amazing as Moorea – it seems a little nicer, more cleaned up, and not as populated. There were shacks up here and there, but even they looked pretty decent and reminded T.J. of cheap shore house rentals. The beach and the water were, like usual, amazing. At the end of the one harbor just before we reached the main village of Vaitape, the water got muddier and it wasn’t nearly as nice, but for the most part it was crystal clear water and white sand. The town itself was more or less a tourist trap that had a few local stores. We got a few little things, and a couple of bottles of wine and a couple of loaves of bread (which will go great with the cheese we stole from the breakfast buffet) for the week, and headed back the way we came. We stopped at several dive places to see if we could get Jen a deeper dive than the original place was offering, but we just had really bad timing and everything was closed or had just left for a dive when we got there.

We stopped at “Bloody Mary’s”, an American-ish bar that was pretty cool. We had heard mixed reviews about the place, and probably should have spent more time there, cause it seemed like a place that would be right up our alley. Overpriced for sure and touristy, but then again, what’s not here. The atmosphere was really cool – they had a “shoe check” because the ground was all sand. There was a cool tiki-type bar and lots of tables in the restaurant with an overall island tiki theme. Jen went to the bathroom and told TJ how cool it was, so he went in to check the mens room which was equally as fun. The sinks were actually mini waterfalls and the bathrooms were eclectically decorated. We debated eating at Bloody Mary’s, but both of us agreed we wanted something more “authentic” than burgers and wings. After a few drinks, we got back on the bikes and found the one pearl farm on Bora Bora island, and took the 15 minute tour to see how the pearls were cultivated. Then TJ bought Jen her wedding present from the pearl shop. :)

Back on the bikes, the place we wanted to stop for lunch was, of course, closed when we got there, so we ended up finding some little shack on a public beach and had a decent meal there. It started raining while we were eating, so that helped to cool the air a bit but kept us off the bikes for an extra 20 minutes. Once we got on the bikes and got moving, we were pretty surprised to discover the IC Moana was right around the corner from where we were. So we returned the bikes, and had about 40 minutes to wait for the next water taxi. We got some towels and then headed for the pool at the IC Moana, a neat little two-level thing that had a small waterfall and a sand lower level. It was nice to lounge a bit after going going going all day long.

We got back to the Thalasso at happy hour time, but opted to skip it to hang out at the bungalow. We opened a bottle of wine and saw a semi-sunset over the mountain. After another fun swim in the water, we got dressed in hopes of getting to the St. Regis for dinner, but we ended up being too late to make reservations for tonight (of course!). We settled for the casual restaurant here over the Polynesian dinner luau, and had a decent meal (even if the best thing was the sashimi/tuna tartar app). It was a good first day exploring, and now we have a great idea of what the rest of the week will look like: scuba, St. Regis, a sunset, and slouching for a day. :)

...And Hello Bora Bora

2008-05-04T09:50:00.001-04:00

Time to travel!! We got up early and finished packing; T.J. also snuck down to the beach and out to one of the remote bungalows to toss in a couple of “message in a bottle” wine bottles, with a stamped envelope asking whomever found it to mail it to us with who they were, when they found it, etc… Here’s hoping the bottles get caught up in a current that takes them someplace far, and doesn’t just push them back to shore. We were up early yet again, and pretty much packed and ready to go by 7am or so. We tried using our last little bit of internet time to send out the summary email but it wasn’t going through, and we decided to just wait until we got to Bora Bora (note: somehow though the nhl.com web page got refreshed with the Flyers scores, although T.J. didn’t see this until late Sunday afternoon… bring on the Penguins/Rangers!!) We headed to the airport and got there with plenty of time to spare (for once) so settled into a little game of 500 Rummy. The airport isn’t exactly what you would call “modern”, we have the pictures to prove it.

Once we got on and got airborne we had a quick stop to make in Huanine before heading to Bora Bora. We’re actually glad we got to stop there, even if we didn’t make it off the plane, as it was one of the places we wanted to go as a third island. It looked beautiful from the air, and was bigger than we had anticipated. Our next trip I guess… We finally get back up in the air and were only airborne for maybe 15 minutes before we started to descend to Bora Bora. We got a pretty good view of the island and the surround motus (our hotel is on a motu) on the way in, and yea, it was as amazing as people had described. The airport itself is pretty cool – it’s on a mutu also, so once “inside” you get your bags and then you hop on a boat to wherever your hotel or destination is. Baggage claim is about 10 feet away from crystal blue water… pretty cool.

We got on the Intercontinental’s boat and headed through the lagoon for a 15 minute trip to the IC Thelasso, passing the Four Seasons, the St. Regis, and the Meredian on the way, all with amazing overwater bungalows. Checking in was pretty much a breeze; we had paid for the “Ambassador’s club” which got you a free upgrade, so we went from the basic OW bungalow to their middle-level ones that had a view of the lagoon and island of Bora Bora instead of a beach/lagoon view. Considering we got upgraded at both IC hotels, it was a great $150 to spend. The room wasn’t quite ready yet, so we hit the casual restaurant for some lunch and a drink. After lounging at the pool (another amazing view) for about 5 minutes, they came and picked us up and brought us to our room. The staff here has been exceptional; everyone has been beyond friendly and helpful and they/the entire place has that extra special touch of the little things done right. When we walked into the room (well, “room” is a misnomer, since the bungalow is 1,000 sq. ft.) we were both amazed at… the entire package. The rooms were fantastic, huge, with spa-type showers, walk in closets, modern amenities, and a huge king bed that had a plate glass window at its foot overlooking the entire lagoon and island of Bora Bora. There was a big deck (which got plenty of shade!!) and then a SECOND lower deck that let you into the lagoon. T.J. has already scoped out the best places to high dive from… :) The entire setup is first class all the way, and the little things really do make a difference. The A/C isn’t fuel-generated – it comes from 40 degree seawater they pump in from 900 ft. (or meters) deep. The A/C turns off if you open up the windows. There’s a clear glass coffee table that lets you see right into the water below the bungalow. It’s just amazing.

We finally got to go for a swim, which was needed since we’d been traveling in the tropical warmth all day. Jen got her first-ever “get thrown in” by T.J., and it was a little easier to take than getting tossed in the Somers Point Bay (which will happen at some point too…) :) The water here is a little more cloudy than it was in Moorea, possibly b/c the bottom is all sand and doesn’t have the amount of coral that Moorea had, and maybe because there is a decent amount of boat traffic on the lagoon that moves the water and the sand below it. It’s still an unreal shade of aqua blue, and although the snorkeling isn’t as good as Moorea, it’s great to hop in and swim around. We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, getting stuff unpacked, reading, and taking lots of pictures of the scenery. It was tough to leave the room, but we heard there was a happy hour special at the South Beach-ish bar here at the hotel called Bubbles, so *of course* we had to check that out. Turns out their specialty drinks are 2 for 1 for an hour, so something tells me that wasn’t our last trip to Bubbles.

To get from the IC to the main island, there’s a water taxi that runs, for the most part, every hour back and forth from the two IC hotels. After a slight schedule misread, we were able to get it over to the other IC property (the Moana) and then walked about 10 minutes to Le Bounty, which was recommended by several people. It was a neat little place (not on the water though) that served up some good mahi for T.J. and veal for Jen. The food was very good and reasonably priced. We had time to kill so we decided to stop at a little beachfront place for dessert and some wine. (the name is escaping us right now) Jen had coconut crème brulee that was REALLY good, and we shared another bottle of wine before calling it a night and heading back to the Moana for the boat ride home. When we got back the staff had turned down our bed, left a little muffin for us, and put a picture of us from when we first arrived on our pillow. Another great little touch. We opened the windows and sliding doors and let the breeze come through and then hit the pillows hard. A great first day in paradise, part II.

A Farewell To Moorea...

2008-05-03T09:46:00.002-04:00

Today TJ woke up before 6am and woke up Jen so we could go and catch a sunrise for the first time. Our little island was still sleeping and it was really fun to be able to scurry around ourselves without another soul around (except the rehabilitating sea turtles). We decided to go for a big breakfast today since it was going to be such a busy and exciting day, so we hit the restaurant for a meal around after coming back to the room to nap at 6:30am. Yes, a nap when we’re usually still asleep. After breakfast we had a few minutes to read and relax, then it was off to the dive boat for jen’s first big experience in the ocean! We got out to a small reef close to the shore, and Jen got to do the big step off a boat and into the salt water for the first time – all captured on camera! T.J. stayed aboard the boat while Jen did her underwater skills and then got to do some diving around. She saw a small shark (a preview of things to come) and a whole school of eagle rays flapping above her (contrary to popular belief they were not shouting “E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!” as they swam by). According to her, it was a great experience, even if she thought they might sting her. Luckily the instructor wrote on his underwater board that they wouldn’t sting and that they were just graceful. T.J. hopped in for a dip and was in the water when Jen and her instructor were coming back, so he got a couple of good pictures. Jen came back onto the boat and was really excited, happy, and thoroughly having enjoyed herself in the water. We soaked up some of the scenery from a couple of hundred yards out from the shore and just to the side of the Bay (the O-Bay, not Cook’s) where there was a cruise ship anchored up. Those poor people won’t get to experience the Moorea we have.

We got back on dry land, and grabbed some lunch right here – the only day we’ll have more than one meal here, which is a good thing for our finances. Split some good rice and OK sushi, then relaxed a bit back at the room before our first tandem dive. Jen got in a quick nap and T.J. started getting out stuff ready to get packed up – a bittersweet thing, since it means we’re leaving one of the best places either one of us have ever been to (and signifies we’re halfway done the honeymoon) but the anticipation of getting to Bora Bora, described by several people we know as the most beautiful place on Earth, makes it a little easier to swallow. We got back to the dive shop, loaded T.J.’s gear on the boat, and headed out. This time we went out past the breakers, into a reef similar to the morning dive, maybe a tad deeper. Jen finished up her exercises and then we had 40 minutes to dive!! Although Jen almost never made it into the water, considering there were about a half-dozen black tip sharks swimming all around the boat!! These 4 footers were harmless though – our guide actually threw some sardines overboard to get them around us so they would swim with us. Jen was unwittingly brave – not sure this is what she would have picked for her first dive, but with 6 other divers around she couldn’t back out now! She did a great job, and the guide fed the fish and sharks all around us for half the dive. There were hundreds of fish swimming all around us, of every color imaginable. We bought the overpriced DVD of the dive because, well, you can never have a moment like that again, but luckily we can relive it now. The dive was great, we were under for over 40 minutes and went down to 40-50 feet, and T.J. got to explore a bit while Jen was doing some of the instructor stuff. Jen really enjoyed it, and T.J. was pretty happy that she didn’t just “like” it but really enjoyed herself and would totally be up for doing it again – although no one expects her to become some crazy diver gal. :) We got off the boat and watched the DVD that we eventually bought, and then relaxed on the deck with a bottle of wine before heading down to the beach to catch our final Moorean sunset. :( It wasn’t one of those bright-colors-throughout-the-sky ones, but the colors concentrated themselves right around the epicenter of the setting sun.

For dinner we caught the IC’s Polynesian Seafood Beach Night show. It was OK – take the Mai Kai and actually put it in Moorea and you have the same thing. The food was OK, it was probably the “least good” of our meals (since we really didn’t have anything “bad”) but there was enough of it to send us both home content. The show was decent, the food was decent, and we both felt like we had to do one of those authentic Polynesian shows, even if it appeared as though the participants were still learning this stuff themselves. Oh well – it was still fun, and was a nice and relaxing last night here. We’re both sad to leave, Moorea really felt like “our” island since it was so much fun, filled with great times, amazing sites, fantastic meals, and an ambiance that was so incredibly unique. And it was our first honeymoon stop, so it will forever be our first honeymoon memories. We’re just hoping that everything we’ve heard about Bora Bora is true, that it is the most beautiful place on earth and that we did this in the right order. Thanks Moorea – we’ll be back someday!

A Tahitian Birthday

2008-05-02T09:41:00.002-04:00

Today is TJ’s birthday so Jen is going to give him the day off and do the journal entry for today. :) So today started with a yummy breakfast of chambert cheese and bread and fresh pineapple (that TJ carved with his pocket knife) and bananas….really good! Then we went for a swim in the lagoon outside of our deck and (after convincing TJ to leave his bathing suit on) Jen let him dive off of the deck into the water. Jen joined him and we floated around a bit in the water just lounging and watching the sun finish coming up and this little island waking up.

We got out of the lagoon and relaxed on our deck for a bit (Jen kept studying for the dive test); then we headed over to the spa for our 10am appointments. We started with a rinse off in the outdoor shower that was made of bamboo and had flowers and shell beads everywhere – we are definitely going to try to recreate this as an outdoor shower at our house (if/when we get one!) The shower was awesome then we headed into the room where we were having our couples massage for 50 minutes (TJ sprung for the extra 10 minutes, and we were so thankful after the massage that we got that!) it was a little different only because there are no bathrobes, just small pieces of sheet like material that we wrap around ourselves and tie…TJ was a bit apprehensive at first, but he got his working! :)

Our massages were awesome – at first I thought it was a bit strange that there was none of that fake music being piped in, then I realized that the windows were open and the sounds of the birds and other natural activity were better than any relaxation CD could be. After 50 glorious minutes, we then floated (it felt like at least) to a private jacuzzi that was full of minerals and oils and we sat in there for another 20 minutes, letting the jacuzzi jets work out any tension that was left in us – which was basically none at this point! The back wall of the Jacuzzi room was open and we just stared out at beautiful scenery and the mountain ahead and all the tropical flowers. It was incredible.

After the bath – we were hungry and had 2 hours until Jen had to be at the pool to dive. We inquired about a snack shop we had seen and heard great things about, but we knew it was too far to walk to be back in time and the trolley didn’t run for another half hour. The concierge felt bad for us so allowed us to rent bicycles 2-4-1 and we pedaled off to eat at the snack shop, Snack Mansion, I think it was called (this was the sign Jen knocked over our first day). Well, as TJ correctly pointed out, these bikes will never be in the tour de france, they were old and rusty and very difficult to maneuver up the steep hills, but we got to the snack shop eventually, a bit hot and sweaty, but we didn’t really notice because we were still so relaxed from the spa.

Food, as always it seems here, was SO good – TJ had ginger honey chicken and Jen had homemade tagleries (pasta) carbonara, in cream sauce with bacon – REALLY good! Only thing that kind of sucked was that the restaurant just opened so it didn’t have a liquor license yet – so TJ had to wait a bit longer for his first cocktail to celebrate his birthday.

After lunch, we hoped back on the bikes and headed home, making the prerequisite stop to by more bananas. We got back to the hotel and jumped in our lagoon to cool down and relax a bit. By then, it was 2pm and Jen headed off to the dive shop for her first lesson. TJ headed to the pool (where Jen would eventually be) and was able to get his first birthday cocktail. :) Yeah! :) Although we did have a causality - Jen "blew our her flip flop"...

Jen eventually arrived at the pool – her instructor and SCUBA gear in tow. The pool was probably the most crowded it has been since we got here, so TJ was a bit apprehensive for Jen, especially considering there were lots of kids jumping in the pool right where Jen was being trained. Jen told him after the dive that her first few minutes down there she absolutely hated and was trying to figure out how to get out of the remaining sessions and not let TJ down too much. But by the end, once she was more comfortable with the underwater breathing (there was only 1 panic attack that the instructor handled right away) and the little kids stopped jumping on top of her, she was actually looking forward to diving in the ocean, especially because TJ was going to dive with her.

After the dive, we went back to our lagoon and TJ swam a bit and Jen gave TJ his birthday cards – Happy Birthday to my HUSBAND!!! :) We then headed out to sunset at the beach and grabbed some wine and pistachios and copped a squat in perfect view of the sun. As if a gift to TJ, the clouds were a bit higher tonight and we were able to see the sun dip into the water for a gorgeous sunset. It (and the wine) must have slightly intoxicated us because as we finally got up to go back to our room to get ready for dinner at Aito’s (restaurant we read about and heard good things about) we decided to check in at the front desk to see when the shuttle was coming to get us – we couldn’t remember if it was 7:30 or 8pm. Good thing we checked because the shuttle was already there and was supposed to leave at 6pm…it was 5:55pm…YIKES! Two other couples were waiting, so we ran to the room, quickly showered and made it back to the lobby at 6:07pm and headed to Aito’s.

Restaurant was really eclectic, and it had a curvy palm tree that reminded us of the tree TJ proposed by, so we quickly grabed a table for 2 right next to it on the beach. There was a band playing that we thought was a mix between Michael McCloud, irish folksongs and island music. We ended up buying a CD, and they were quite entertaining. We had an appetizer of shrimp in spicy butter and a yummy bottle of white wine. For TJ’s birthday dinner, he had lobster cooked natural style w/drawn butter and Jen asked for a recommendation and was told the best meal was God Salmon in Sea Urchin Sauce. If it hadn’t been recommended, Jen never would have ordered it, but we are so glad she did because it was delicious! It started to rain a bit, so we had our second bottle of wine and dessert (crepe with 3 types of ice cream and chocolate and whip cream) on the deck where the band was playing. Jen had whispered to the lead singer that it was TJ’s birthday, so they sang to him and the restaurant joined in. Then we headed home, saw a pirate looking ship in Cook’s Bay (AAARRRRRR) and right before we hit the sack, we were able to see the Southern Cross again. Happy Birthday, Baby!! :)

(note from T.J. - I highly recommend Tahiti for your birthday. Forget watches, socks, and ice cream cake, and just book a couple of tickets on Air Tahiti Nui.)

The First "Not The Best Day Ever"

2008-05-01T09:38:00.002-04:00

Well today was the first day Jen didn’t say “This was the best day ever!!” It started out slowly; we walked to a crepe place for breakfast just down the road. The proprietor was a rugged and very stinky Parisian named Jean Michel, he had a very interesting setup with what we think was his entire living arrangement serving as his creperie establishment. It was made up of a pontoon boat that was converted into a tiki bar; we ate on his lawn furniture that was made out of tree trunks. The food was pretty good, and he sat with us afterwards and gave us some of his travel stories, which were quite interesting. He was in serious need of a shower though. Afterwards, we went over what our plan was going to be – scuba and swimming with the dolphins today, this boat tour of the island with a buffet lunch Friday, and spa on Saturday. As it turns out, the IC had other plans. First, we found out that the scuba had to be Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, because they were booked at the other times. Worse, Jen actually had to do homework!! “Just the first three chapters and the videos with them” the lady at the front desk said. As it turns out, the first three chapters covered 175 pages and Jen was not skimming over anything that could affect her coming back to the surface in one piece! So she was not really that happy about having to do comprehensive reading and watching an instructional video on the honeymoon… She did eventually get through it, and as we found out later there’s no test for the first three chapters, so that alleviated some of her anxiety.

In the meantime, we booked a swim with the dolphins. Except after we did the math, we realized it was well over $700 USD for 30 minutes total with the dolphins. Jen did the comparison and realized how much fun she could have at the spa for that much dough, so T.J. went back and got us out of it. We’ll do the dolphin swim sometime this summer in the Keys for a lot less to make up for it. Then, T.J. went to schedule something for the spa for us for this afternoon, but they were all booked up both in the afternoon and all day Saturday (our second choice). Suppose we should have heeded the advice to book everything in advance. Oh well… what the hell. We are scheduled for Friday morning though, so it will be a good birthday present for T.J. And we found out that Friday’s dive will only be Jen in the pool to do her skills, so we won’t be out diving until Saturday morning, which makes Friday a pretty relaxing day. On the bright side we got all dinner reservations made – two restaurants we checked out on the scooter for Thursday and Friday, and the Polynesian Seafood BBQ and show here Saturday night.

Now that all the plans are set, Jen did a little more studying, and T.J. took a quick snorkel trip around the OW bungalows (even though the mask was partially broken). We made some drinks, showered up, and went down to the beach to watch the sunset. Again, the clouds hid the sun actually touching down below the horizon, but also again the sky was brilliant with colors; this time pale oranges and reds. Afterwards we set off to Te Honu Iti, a place we saw on Cook’s Bay we thought would be nice and that came recommended by both the front desk and the online site we got a lot of good recommendations from. Turns out the place was fabulous; as soon as we walked in, the smell was intoxicating. We got a great seat in the corner next to the rail overlooking the bay. Just below us there were fish, a couple of stingrays that kept passing by, and a big eel. The food was great; the mussels app was great with seasoning and sea salt (note – we’re trying this one at home), and T.J.’s seafood pasta was pretty damn good. However Jen’s sea scallops with rice and leeks in a buttery cream sauce was to die for, it rivaled the meal we had at Johnny’s yesterday (only a lot more expensive). And we can’t forget the bananas (which are the sweetest ever) flambaued in a cinnamon sugar butter – so good!! By the time we got home we were both tired, full, Jen was a little wine tipsy, and we stayed up long enough to look at the stars for about 2 minutes before calling it a night – our latest one here, at 10pm. Boy married life sure has changed us, huh???

When You See The Southern Cross For The First Time...

2008-04-30T09:24:00.004-04:00

We got up early again this morning to try and catch the sunrise, but the clouds didn’t let it peek through until after it was well over the horizon. We had some juice and bread and pistachios on the deck, then wandered around the property a bit. We decided that we wanted to see some of the island, and according to the lady at the front desk, there was a place to rent scooters at the top of the hill where the driveway to the IC began. We walked up, and of course there was no one there (they didn’t get there yet, apparently since they were there later). So Sharpe Family Walking Adventure II began. We walked about a half mile until we saw a hotel we had heard about where they rented small boats to you without the need for a license. After checking out the boats and finding out another scooter place would deliver one to us, we decided to go the land route today and save the nautical stuff for the next few days.

The scooter guy came, dropped it off, and we were on our way to circumnavigating Moorea!! We had the thing for the whole day, and it was only 9:30, so there was plenty to see and do. We headed away from our hotel, towards the side of the island we hadn’t seen yet. This turned out to be the less populated and commercial side of the island but was as (if not more) beautiful. The smell of mango and pineapple farms intermittently broke up the salt air smell; when we were more inland, it mixed with aromatic flora – not like the florist/funeral home overbearing floral smell, but a mix of fresh flowers, deep-woods greenery, and the first blossom of spring. The views were incredible – words can’t do it justice, we’ll have to let the pictures try and speak for themselves, but we both agree that even our Olympus couldn’t truly capture the sights. Unbelievably blue ocean on one side, large mountains full of greenery on the other. T.J. drove while Jen hung on and took pictures – so many that the battery was pretty much empty only halfway through our trip around the island. We stopped and got a half-kilo of bananas (about 7 small ones) and they were the sweetest we’ve ever tasted by far. The road alternated from right next to the ocean (think driving through the Keys) and a little inland next to the base of the mountains. At one point, we drove through a straightaway of trees hanging over the road, creating a tropical canopy that cooled the road (and us) by 10 degrees. We stopped on a little road that pushed out towards the ocean and finished our bananas, while watching a surfer paddle out the mile or so towards the reef and the breakers that were probably 6’ or so.

We finally came around to the south side of the island, and there, as the road curved and the water turned from unbelievable blue to unreal electric blue, the island of Tahiti rose up, 11 miles in the distance. To see it just rise out of the water and be the backdrop for the most serene viewpoint (until a few hours later – see below) was amazing. We’re pretty much running out of adjectives at this point. We probably stopped 20+ times to take pictures or just take in the scenery, plus jen was snapping away as we drove. At this point we were getting hungry, and we both wanted to find something cool and local that would be a great meal. After passing up a couple places, we drove by this “snack” place that had this curry aroma that caused T.J. to spin the scooter around even as Jen was suggesting we go there to eat. The owner/chef sat us at a window overlooking the water with Tahiti in the background. He was a real free spirit, telling us this was his 12th restaurant he’d opened, he loved cooking, he’d give us his brother’s number on Bora Bora and he’d show us around, etc… He reminded me so much of John Santarpio it was scary, so it came as no surprise when he said, in an Australian accent, “Name’s Johnny…” WE had a couple drinks there, and he served us one of the best meals either one of us ever had – Poisson Cru (raw tuna with onions, mangos, tomatoes, etc… in coconut milk like we had yesterday) for Jen, and Curry Shrimp and fish for T.J. It was absolutely to die for and we pretty much licked the plates. All that, a couple of drinks, and a big bottle of water for $70 USD, which was a steal compared to what we’ve paid (and will be paying). Dad, you would have LOVED the place. One of these days when we get back to Tahiti, this will be the first place we come to eat! Heck we might end up back there for lunch before we leave…

After lunch we continued to the supermarche, to stock up – we heard this was the best place to get vodka and rum! And at $12 a drink here for a lot of stuff, it was a good call. We got the “necessities” and a big magnum of champagne, and set off down the road. We passed the ferry and now were in “familiar” territory. We stopped at the lookout that was above the Sofitil, one of the newest and best places on the island; T.J. saw a neat looking beach just to the left and down the hill, so after spending 10 minutes admiring the harbor, the view and Tahiti in the background, we set off for home… except T.J. pulled a right hand turn to see what the beach was like. Jen wasn’t a huge fan of the plan, especially when we had to get onto Costa Rica-like dirt roads, but once we got there and she found the bathroom, it was ok. We passed someone playing Jack Johnson out of their car stereo too, so that helped her feel more at home. The beach itself was more like a park, and had beautiful water, and dozens of people cooking out, swimming, playing bocce, and overall having a great time. It was a really cool place, and we’d later read in a guide that it is the best beach in Moorea. The Sharpe instincts were right again!!

We got back to the hotel and unloaded our stuff, went for a swim to cool off, and got back on the scooter with about 2 hours left. We ahd a couple of more things to do – get some fresh fruit, check out a couple of restaurants, and head to Belvedere, an overlook up a mountain that was described in a guide as one of the most beautiful on the planet. They weren’t wrong. We headed up a bunch of switchbacks, and Jen was a little apprehensive about the IndyCar style of T.j.’s driving, especially when a truck flying down the hill came a little too close. It was a really cool ride up though (there were two ancient ruins to stop and look at on the way as well) and when we got to the top, the view was… well, we’ll have to send the pictures. Cook’s bay on one side, Opunohu Bay on the other side, and splitting the difference was a majestic mountain, with the Pacific Ocean as the backdrop. It was truly amazing, and I don’t even know if the pictures can do it half the justice it deserves. To top it off, if you turned around, there was a cliff face going straight up pretty much the entire 180 degrees behind you. Amazing… you’ll just have to see the pics.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, although T.J.’s attempt to not use the brake the entire way down lasted about one switchback. We took a bumpy shortcut to Cook’s Bay, and drove around checking out a few different places to eat for the rest of the week. We cruised home, with the occasional stop, and finally found a stand on the side of the road with bananas. We have a couple of cool places to check out for dinners for the rest of the week. Back at the hotel it was time to mix up a drink and head for the sunset. We took a dip in the pool – soooooo refreshing!! – and then Jen secured two chairs while T.J. went to grab us a drink in plastic cups so we wouldn’t have to drink out of those little bathroom water cups. The bartender, a real nice guy from Papeete, ended up pouring an entire bottle of wine into two plastic cups and charging us for one drink – he’s definitely getting a tip, had no $$ since we were charging everything to the room and they don’t have a line to put a tip in on the receipt. The sunset was again obscured by a few clouds, but we saw it almost all the way down, and the light reflections afterwards were a different shade of amazing than the night before. Oranges, light blues, and pale reds were all over the sky, and we sat there until the stars began to come out. We walked back to the room, opened the champagne, and had some bread and cheese and drinks on the dock. Once the night got completely black, you could see hundreds (if not thousands) of stars in the night sky. Jen eventually asked where the Southern Cross was and we both leaned back over the railing and looked up – and both immediately spotted it in the eastern night sky. It was REALLY cool – how many times have we heard/sung that song, and to actually “see the Southern Cross for the first time” gave us both chills. Was just such a great moment, and we’re both glad that it was something we got to experience together – literally at the same exact time. By 9pm, we were done star gazing, we’d gone through a loaf of bread and cheese, had a couple of drinks, and were feeling tired from such an eventful and long day, so we went to bed early again. It was one of the best days we’ve ever had (with the natural caveat of “besides our wedding day”) and we’re glad we still have over a week of this left.

I Want To Sail That Boat To Tahiti

2008-04-29T09:14:00.008-04:00

Our clocks were all messed up (internally) so we woke up at 4:30 am; 5:30 am; and finally 6Am to try and find the sunrise. Smell of flowers was awesome. Sunrise was on other side of the island, but the colors over the mountain were beautiful. Also got to see the color of the sunrise reflect onto Moorea, across the Channel. Showered (finally!!), packed, went to breakfast. Yummy buffet, omelets, fresh fruits and juices, etc… Got bags, checked out, and went through Papeete to the ferry – Aremini 5. Sat in first row of ferry inside, great view of entire approach to Moorea. Had a beer. The whole thing reminded me of a favorite song.

Not sure what to do once on dry land; finally found a local bus (think whitewater rafting school bus) that slowly took us to the IC. Got to appreciate the amazing scenery on the ride there. Overcast and clouds at the mountaintops. Passed Cook’s Bay, which (supposedly) inspired Buffett to pen “One Particular Harbour”. Jen realized that the constant whitecaps were NOT a continuous line of boats in the distance, but the waves crashing on the reef. With a little difficulty, finally checked in – our Platinum Ambassador status upgraded us from beach front to semi-OW bungalow. T.J. used difficultly checking in as excuse to open computer and get on internet. Meanwhile jen enjoyed welcome drink at the bar. :) Got to our room – awesome décor, deck over small lagoon that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Can see ocean while laying in bed. Took a walk around property. Passed the turtle rehabilitation center – didn’t know turtles had substance abuse problems. Checked out the gym, which is free and we probably won’t use. Checked out the spa, which is definitely NOT free and which we definitely WILL use. Wandered past dolphin habitat, where you can swim with dolphins (tomorrow). Checked out the beach area, and pool, and the dive center. Jen says she is trying a resort type dive (3 total dives) and if she likes it, she can finish the course and get certified in Bora Bora. If she doesn’t, it’s back to diving with Fred for T.J.

Had a poolside lunch of sashimi tuna in a coconut milk and lime sauce w/cut up cucumbers, onions, and tomoatoes, over rice. MMMMM. Also had slivers of swordfish and whitefish with a dish of mango sorbet, diced cucumbers, and onions. Also was mmmmm, even if it sounds funny at first. Both are traditional Polynesian dishes. Had a bottle of water, a sea breeze, and a soco and coke and the tab for lunch was $90 USD. Ouch. Came back to room, found a complimentary bottle of champagne in the room, and a tshirt for t.j., a wrap for jen, and a small Tahitian scroll painting. Took our first dip in the water – was slightly chilly at first, but felt so good after a minute. Tested out the water-resistant camera and our snorkel equipment – both worked great. Not a ton of fish or good snorkel sights, but still pretty darn cool. Napped on the oversized sofa with the breeze coming in the door. Decided to walk to the grocery store that we had read about online and passed on the way here; except the one we read about was past the hotel by only 10 minutes or so on foot, and the one we went to was a good half hour+ hike in the other direction. Oops. Jen’s first “Sharpe Adventure” of her married life. Get used to it sweetheart. :) We stocked up on some bread, cheese, fruit juice, snacks, and a couple of bottles of wine. On the way back, Jen almost knocked over a sign for a small side of the road restaurant, and gave the only patrons a good chuckle. Lucky for us, she must have been entertaining, since the couple who saw us picked us up in their car a few minutes later. Turns out they are staying at our hotel, and they are from Philly to boot!! They gave us some good advice on things to do. We got home, popped open the champagne, cheese, and bread, and did this little blog of our first day in French Polynesia, sitting on our deck, sipping champagne, and watching the day turn into evening with some amazing dark colors (no sunset tonight b/c of clouds, but made for some amazing blue, purple, and aqua hues in the sky).

So after we were done this little blog, Jen looked out the front door and saw that the sunset was actually happening on the other side of our bungalow. We quickly ran over to a small bridge to see the remnants of what must have been an amazing sunset. The colors were unlike anything either of us had seen before. It was spectacular, and we can’t wait to actually see the sun go down on Wednesday. We’ve seen a lot of sunsets before (especially all of Dad’s pictures) but this one by far was the most amazing. Will try and send pics. Napped again while the breeze blew into the hut from the ocean, then finally got up and went to dinner. Both of us were half asleep for dinner, which was very good – Jen had a great piece of Mahi, and T.J. had a curry-sauce piece of Kangaroo. It was actually REALLY good, although I have a case of the hops. :) we brought the bottle of wine back to the hotel room with us and had about two sips before we passed out on (one of) our favorite places, the sofa next to the open door of the bungalow’s deck.

Let the Honeymoon Begin!!

2008-04-29T09:09:00.001-04:00

Went to bed 1:00am EST after finishing packing. Woke up at 4:30am EST, T.J. couldn’t really sleep Jen had no problem though! Our flight was actually at 6am, not 7:15, luckily we checked. Got to the airport in plenty of time (after making a large deposit in the ATM) and got on the flight fine. FLL to ATL was uneventful, we slept most of the time. Switched planes and had a quick breakfast in ATL, then got on the LAX flight and got comfortable. We watched an in flight movie (“Juno”), Jen beat T.J. in Rummy, and we slept some more. Arrived in LAX got bags and went to International Terminal and checked in. Got to go to the executive lounge b/c we were business class, which was a good thing since we had to pay some bills online before we left and T.J. had to sign up for his health insurance through work. Jen got us a bunch of free munchies, and we took a shuttle out to a remote location of LAX where they board big-ass jets. Got on, was the first row in business class which let us kick up our feet onto the wall (well, Jen’s didn’t reach). Took off and left the U.S. behind!!

The flight attendants gave us all little Polynesian flowers for behind our ears; the female attendants actually changed once airborne into Tahitian dresses! Biz class was AMAZING! The chairs extended foot rests, leaned back to almost sleeping position, and were sooooo comfy. There was also a personal TV set that popped up and let us watch a movie together (“Bee Movie”) and play chess, which Jen somehow won after not paying attention the entire game. Jen watched “Martian Child” while T.J. took a snooze. The food was soooo good, and they kept bringing around very good wine. We brought the menu with us so we know what to buy once we get home. Lunch was 4 courses, and included shrimp apps, a main course (swordfish for T.J., lamb for Jen), bread and cheese, and a dessert platter we should have taken more advantage of. They also gave us a small chilled snack near the end of the flight (shrimp, bread, cheese, cheesecake). I hope Jen enjoyed business class cause our next trip we’re flying in the back of the plane!! :) We saw the sun set over the Pacific at 38,000 feet, it was amazing. We finally got there, although we both said it wasn’t nearly as bad of a trip as we thought, considering we’d been traveling for about 24 hours. Going through customs was a breeze, and getting to the hotel was easy. It was dark so it was tough to appreciate Tahiti at night, but we could already tell it was going to be amazing. We got to the room, and figured we’d go get something to eat; however, we were laying on the bed and jen started rubbing T.J.’s head and back, and surprisingly enough, we both passed out on top of the bed at 7:30pm local time. Guess the traveling for 24 hours caught up to us…