So the reason I went down to Florida was because my mom had to get neck surgery - something called a clavicle fusion.  Basically, they took a piece of bone from her hip and put it in her neck, to repair some damage.  ANYHOW, I spent most of the time looking at the sunshine (and there was plenty) from inside of the hospital. We had an awesome view from her room (which took six hours of waiting to get), you could see the ocean. 

So I overslept the morning of my flight to Orlando - about 11 minutes before the Super Shuttle showed up :)  In my frantic state (I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off) I forgot my camera.  I know, so unlike me, right?  I’d sooner forget my contacts than my camera.  Also, I doubt my mom would want pics in her neck brace - she did look pretty cute/funny.  This is a picture of us from my college graduation, instead:

So in case you had any doubt I am now in Florida, may I present the proof:

PS - For those not in the know, 3 was Dale Earnhart’s number and 88 is Jr’s.  Welcome to Nascar Country!

I spent the past weekend in NYC visiting some of my bestest pals. Scott and I traveled by Amtrak (the Acela!) on Friday after work and met up with Anna that night at a “local establishment.” I call it that because it could have been your average bar in any medium sized city in America. I guess I should have explained to Anna-Banana that I wanted the New York experience and not The Blind Pig Pub (kidding Anna!).

Scott, Me, and Anna

On Saturday I met up with Rachael, whom I’ve known since 3rd grade. Yeah, don’t do the math, it’s scary. I asked her to take me out site seeing, so where do you think we decided to go? Macys of course! Actually, the place was all decorated for Easter with thousands of live flowers.

Rachael and I on the balcony level of Macys, getting our Visitor’s Passes (11% off!).

It was nice to visit a big(ger) city and get away from DC for a bit. And it was absolutely wonderful to see Anna and Rachael (both of whom I haven’t seen in a few years). I definitely want to go back again soon - especially since I didn’t have time to go on the Sex and the City Tour

Oh! So we had been on celebrity lookout all weekend, to no avail, and on the way back on the train we saw the Dad from The Wonder Years! We were sitting and he walked past us down the aisle. Haha, so it’s not like seeing Sarah Jessica Parker, but it’s certainly a big deal for someone who loooovvveed The Wonder Years. And I know my dad will be impressed

Today is a sad day here at the Academy.  One of my favorite people in the world is leaving.  It seems so strange to say that, since we have only know each other for a little over a year.  Sometimes, though, you meet people and you just click.  You know?  Well, that is the situation with Bobby and I.  Anytime I need to vent (which can be quite often) he is always there with a level head to set me straight and calm me down.  He’s basically been my therapist - I owe him a lot of for our consultations :)  He came here from Boston (connection!) and has been running our Alumni Program with style and grace; he’s been such an awesome addition to our team.  I am so sorry to see him go.  I wish him all the best in his next adventure, knowing that he will have no problem making friends and spreading his immense talent wherever he lands.  He will be missed!

So I had a great weekend - celebrated some special birthdays from afar and enjoyed the company of old friends here in the city.

Dan came up last week to stay with me - he is working on his PhD and gets to spend his “free time” digging through the archives.  He did this last year, for a much longer period, and was able to experience the terror that was my former terrorist roommate (more on that in a future post).  Anyhoo, we had a good time hanging out…and then Beth came on Friday!  We all know each other from college and were able to work in some quality Stetson Alumni time (at the local pub).  Beth was in town for our good friend Priya’s Bachelorette Party.  Here are some of the pics that are safe to post

The lovely bachelorette with Melanie and Beth

Bethie and I at Filomena’s in Georgetown

Sunday was both my dad and Nate’s birthdays.  I guess all the good guys are born on the same day?? Haha.  I sent packages to both of them, since I couldn’t be there to celebrate in person.  It’s soooo hard to shop for my dad (and my mom) but I think I did ok this year.  I bought him the complete anthology of one of his favorite poets; who knew my father liked poetry, right?  I think it’s mainly because he “cannot concentrate long enough to read a book.”  Claims he hasn’t read a book in 50 years!  That he has ADD!  (Yes, I called it ADD and not ADHD because he’s that old.)  So, apparently poems are where it’s at.  For Nate, I was able to be a little more creative.  You all know how much I love my Obama gear (did I post that picture of my Barack tshirt?). Well, Nate loves him just as much as I do,  so I knew I could get away with buying more Cafepress gold.  Here is the shirt I found for him:

Nothing too bold or showy, cause then he’d never wear it.  Quite classy, I think.  Yes, I will use any excuse to promote the O-Man.

I only buy Lean Cuisine microwave meals.  Why?  They are the only brand that actual tastes good and has a reasonable amount of calories.  Honestly, they are pretty damn delicious.  I’m certain that one day we will all find out they have about 1,000 calories each (like that “fat free” frozen yogurt in that episode of Seinfedl). I’ve done the comparisons before, I know the facts, so I have no idea what possessed me to divert from the plan.

I was in the grocery last night and spotted some new-fangled frozen meals from Healthy Choice, called “Cafe Steamers.”  They looked great; I bought the General Tso’s Spicy Chicken and Creamy Dill Salmon.  They looked good….they tasted HORRIBLE.  The the rice was watery and hard, the chicken was soggy and gross, the salmon was slimy, the dill took over everything.  It was an awful experience - for both meals (I just tried to eat the second one). 

So, lesson learned.  Stick to what you know - you’ll just be dissapointed otherwise.

NEW: Kandace, Mario, Jen and I got tickets to the Wizards’ game. Here’s Jen and I at the game (I’m wearing my Obama shirt!).

I have no life beyond work - we all know this.  All I have is this little doggy. 

I bought Toby a new collar for his birthday (with “busy” bees on it!) and since it was his 21st Birthday (in dog years) we celebrated with beer and martini shaped cookies for he and Beau.  I also purchased a new squeaky toy, knowing that it would be destroyed in a matter of minutes.  Oh well, the things we do for love.

Aunt Tiffy-Taffy, posed to hand out the treats.

Toby loves beer.

Squeaky toys are delicious.

He’s a vicious pig.

Toby Maguire, Tobster, Tony Jones(!), The Tone-ster, PIG, BRICK, Ham Hock, Fat Potato, Lumpy….Toby.  My boy’s all growns up!

Toby is three years old today.  I can’t believe I’ve had him for that long.  Everyone knows that I’m a little obsessed with my boy; I mean, I did hire that PI to find him, haha. 

Here are a couple of photos to commemorate The Tobster’s Life:

At the farm in Missiouri

First day home - incidentally, I think that was the last time my toenails were painted.

Doing what he does best.

Toby’s “School Photo” - Taken by Burke Studios

I love PostSecret.  I used to go on the website all the time, but stopped a couple of years ago.  One of my friend’s blog has a link to it and after I read her post tonight I clicked on it.  I was getting into the “secrets” once more, until I reached the bottom of the page and realized there wasn’t a link to previous entries.  Why?  Because they only post one week at a time and then a new batch of secrets is posted up (the old ones dissapear!).  Now this makes sense because they’ve made several books out of this site and therefore don’t want to give away all the goods for free online.  My problem is that I needed my fix and no bookstores are open (or around me) at this hour to buy one of the damn books. 

So….I went on Flickr.  Genius site.  You can find free pics of everything.  And I searched for Post Secret and, voila, a whole motherload of pics came up.  Here are some I found interesting: