A weekend in birthdaytude
I've put about 1,000 miles on my car since Thursday, when I came to Philly for Rosemary's birthday weekend.
And what a time it was! Friday we went up to visit her uncle and aunt in Hummelstown, which is in the Lancaster area near Hershey. Driving up, up, up the Pennsylvania Turnpike as the city gave way to suburbs gave way to the rich fertilizer smell of farmlands. Driving 50 miles down a road of corn fields, dairy farms and McCain-Palin signs. Where the moon really shines at night, and life slows down enough to sit, relax and enjoy good things like family and food, and puppy dogs.
And that's exactly what we did. They live in an awesome house with woods in the back where squirrels, chipmunks, a groundhog, birds and deer make their home. We played with their dog a lot and had an all-around good time.
Among the highlights:
-I ate a cheeseburger with a roll made of pretzel dough.
-We visited Hershey's Chocolate World, which is as hokey and awesome a place that bills itself "The Sweetest Place on Earth" can be. We did the chocolate tasting, a Disney-style ride that shows how milk chocolate is made (complete with singing animatronic cows), and wandered through the gift shop and bought TONS of chocolate. Gotta get back there and see the other attractions, such as the trolley ride. Rosemary hugged a Kit Kat bar, and we saw the cutest little girl ever who was in shock to meet the Kit Kat, and kissed and hugged him.
-Watching the Phillies play Game 2 Friday night was awesome, cheering like crazy over Brett Myers' incredible hitting (way better than his pitching), and discovering that Rosemary and Pat Burrell have the same birthdate.
-Seeing "The Naked Gun" and "The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear." I really enjoy these movies, and watching them now is still very funny. And they're an odd artifact - all the jokes that are horribly dated and wouldn't make sense to anyone under 25 (such as the Zsa Zsa slap), seeing Curt Gowdy hugging Jim Palmer, O.J. Simpson back during the good times, the last time Priscilla Presley looked good and before she butchered herself with plastic surgery.
Saturday night we went to a party for some friends who recently got married and were visiting from Virginia. Met some new people, saw some oher friends, and we watched Sarah Palin get booed by Flyers fans.
Sunday Rosemary got her Hellga skirt and suspenders made by our friend Sue, and that night we went out with my brother and his fiancee for Japanese tapas at Yakitori Boy in Chinatown.
This was a good weekend, though so busy and I drove more than 100 miles each day. I'm glad I could be home all that time for Rosemary, and still get in some family time. Looking forward to going back for Henri David's Halloween party - the "American Gladiators" costumes are coming together nicely. Maybe I'll get to wrestle with some people this year. (Side note: Check out this nutty self-penned profile of David in Philadelphia Magazine.)
Today I went to the new Target that opened Friday in Southington off the I-84 exit. It's a big Target, so it isn't any different from other ones, but man it's nice to have one 10 minutes away. I bought that "The Cult of Cartman" DVD, and a pretty cool "Dark Knight" Joker action figure that looks like Heath Ledger.
Tonight is time for tons of TV - Phils play Game 5, the Cloris Leachman crazy train keeps rolling on "Dancing with the Stars," and about 15 more revelations are in store on "Heroes" (way better so far this season, but still not as good as the first). Gotta gear up for a management seminar at work tomorrow that I have at 8:30 in the morning(!) and then some more time at ESPN.com. I'm off Friday but have no idea what I'm gonna do - likely will just hang here and chill out, but maybe Tish and I can go to the movies or something.
And what a time it was! Friday we went up to visit her uncle and aunt in Hummelstown, which is in the Lancaster area near Hershey. Driving up, up, up the Pennsylvania Turnpike as the city gave way to suburbs gave way to the rich fertilizer smell of farmlands. Driving 50 miles down a road of corn fields, dairy farms and McCain-Palin signs. Where the moon really shines at night, and life slows down enough to sit, relax and enjoy good things like family and food, and puppy dogs.
And that's exactly what we did. They live in an awesome house with woods in the back where squirrels, chipmunks, a groundhog, birds and deer make their home. We played with their dog a lot and had an all-around good time.
Among the highlights:
-I ate a cheeseburger with a roll made of pretzel dough.
-We visited Hershey's Chocolate World, which is as hokey and awesome a place that bills itself "The Sweetest Place on Earth" can be. We did the chocolate tasting, a Disney-style ride that shows how milk chocolate is made (complete with singing animatronic cows), and wandered through the gift shop and bought TONS of chocolate. Gotta get back there and see the other attractions, such as the trolley ride. Rosemary hugged a Kit Kat bar, and we saw the cutest little girl ever who was in shock to meet the Kit Kat, and kissed and hugged him.
-Watching the Phillies play Game 2 Friday night was awesome, cheering like crazy over Brett Myers' incredible hitting (way better than his pitching), and discovering that Rosemary and Pat Burrell have the same birthdate.
-Seeing "The Naked Gun" and "The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear." I really enjoy these movies, and watching them now is still very funny. And they're an odd artifact - all the jokes that are horribly dated and wouldn't make sense to anyone under 25 (such as the Zsa Zsa slap), seeing Curt Gowdy hugging Jim Palmer, O.J. Simpson back during the good times, the last time Priscilla Presley looked good and before she butchered herself with plastic surgery.
Saturday night we went to a party for some friends who recently got married and were visiting from Virginia. Met some new people, saw some oher friends, and we watched Sarah Palin get booed by Flyers fans.
Sunday Rosemary got her Hellga skirt and suspenders made by our friend Sue, and that night we went out with my brother and his fiancee for Japanese tapas at Yakitori Boy in Chinatown.
This was a good weekend, though so busy and I drove more than 100 miles each day. I'm glad I could be home all that time for Rosemary, and still get in some family time. Looking forward to going back for Henri David's Halloween party - the "American Gladiators" costumes are coming together nicely. Maybe I'll get to wrestle with some people this year. (Side note: Check out this nutty self-penned profile of David in Philadelphia Magazine.)
Today I went to the new Target that opened Friday in Southington off the I-84 exit. It's a big Target, so it isn't any different from other ones, but man it's nice to have one 10 minutes away. I bought that "The Cult of Cartman" DVD, and a pretty cool "Dark Knight" Joker action figure that looks like Heath Ledger.
Tonight is time for tons of TV - Phils play Game 5, the Cloris Leachman crazy train keeps rolling on "Dancing with the Stars," and about 15 more revelations are in store on "Heroes" (way better so far this season, but still not as good as the first). Gotta gear up for a management seminar at work tomorrow that I have at 8:30 in the morning(!) and then some more time at ESPN.com. I'm off Friday but have no idea what I'm gonna do - likely will just hang here and chill out, but maybe Tish and I can go to the movies or something.