January 30, 2011 - ManDogBaby

Howard is obviously a dog, but he's got a little man face, and he lets me hold him like a little baby - so he is my ManDogBaby (an homage to the classic ManBearPig episode of South Park.)

January 29, 2011 - Yo, Frosty

This 8' tall snowman is in my neighborhood... fantastic!

January 28, 2011 - A Night at the Opera

This is the audience at the Met for a performance of Simon Boccanegra, and if you look REALLY closely at the two people standing just slightly above and to the left of the photo's center you will see our friends Rich & Guy. Tom and I met them before the show to people watch* and then we spotted them from our seats. We didn't think it was appropriate to yell their names out (being the Met and all), so we tried some relatively reserved waving to get their attention, but they didn't see us... or at least they didn't wave back if they did (ha ha!)

Unfortunately, I can't say too much about the show because it was a complicated story & I had a hard time keeping my eyes open for this one. All I know for sure is that there was a guy named Simon, who was a pirate, but then became a mayor or something, and then somehow he was the long lost father of some lady who's boyfriend wanted to kill him, but then became his friend, but it didn't matter because someone else killed him and he died. The end. Got it?

*People watching at the Met is almost worth the price of admission alone. We've decided that most of the people in the audiences fall into one of 4 categories - 1) Old, 2) Gay, 3) European & 4) Old Gay Europeans.

January 27, 2011 - Backyard Expedition

As everyone probably knows, NYC was hit with another big snowfall the other night. Here's an early morning shot of the dogs blazing a trail through it all to take care of some "business."

January 26, 2011 - Clouds

This shot is from my flight back to NY. I was lucky to get on the plane because my original flight was cancelled due to weather, but the nice lady at American Airlines was able to get me on an earlier flight and I beat the "thundersnow." Hooray! It worked out really well... besides simply getting home - I actually got upgraded and got to enjoy some First Class luxury too.

But, regardless of all that - I just like looking at clouds from planes! I think they can be so magical and beautiful. Of course, I always hear Judy Collins singing in my head when I look at them, but as scary as that sounds, it just makes me think about how wonderfully fascinating everything is.

January 25, 2011 - BellagiOMG

I don't really have to explain this one do I? It was pure joy (which was appropriately also the name of my server.)

January 24, 2011 - Deja Vegas

You're probably asking, "Wait a second, David... why are you posting another picture of Vegas? You were there a week ago, right?" Right! But... I'm back again!! And before you start looking up the address for Gamblers' Anonymous - let me assure you I'm ok, this time I'm here for work.

This shot is from a room in the beautiful new Cosmopolitan. Everything about this place is gorgeous... the casino is lovely, the rooms are huge, and they have great restaurants including one of my NYC favorites, Blue Ribbon Sushi (which has a Quad Cities connection too!)

My room, however, is NOT at the Cosmopolitan - it is at the $30 per night Imperial Palace (which I wrote about last time.) It's a "fun" place to stay - I'm being kind - but next time I visit, I hope I get a room like this one.

January 23, 2011 - Deals at Haru

If you live in a DailyCandy city, you need to start watching for DailyCandy Deals. They are kind of like Groupon offers, but better (because they are generally more fun and because I work there.)

One of the presents I got Tom this year was a sushi tasting at Haru from DailyCandy Deals. It was delicious! This picture is from the third course - we ate the first two too quickly to pause for a picture.

January 22, 2011 - Garbage & Ice

The title says it all... there's some ice next to my garbage can. Not a very exciting picture right? Right, but - I took one and that's what counts. I'm not foolish enough to even DREAM of taking 365 pictures that are interesting, I'm happy just taking them.

January 21, 2011 - Couch Potatoes

New York City! Friday night! Party time!
...or not.

It was actually very cold out & I was more than happy to spend an evening inside with the dogs. We caught up on a lot of shows and had a good time just relaxing.
(note Hucky has his doughnut still - it's a required accessory for TV watching.)

January 20, 2011 - Life is a Cabaret

This shot is from our friend Colleen's FANTASTIC monthly cabaret series, "Calendar Girl." Each month she performs a new show and wows me (and everyone else in the audience) with her beautiful voice and her quick humor.

But... what made this particular show, a tribute to Barry Manilow, extra special was that she invited Tom to be a backup singer for her!! Yes, you read that correctly. Tom. Backup singer. Barry Manilow tribute. It's pretty much the reason we ended up seeing Barry in Vegas earlier this week - so Tom could check out Barry's backup singers moves during the show. Of course he did a great job and I loved it. Check out his take on the evening at his blog www.hundredandonethings.com

January 19, 2011 - Birthday Sundae

Yay, it's my birthday! Yay, Tom and I had a wonderful dinner! Yay, I got a sundae with a candle for dessert!

January 18, 2011 - Bubble Glass Windows

The windows on the side of our porch were covered with with crystals this morning and looked real fancy. I'm glad I took a picture of them because it is about the only nice thing I can see about what the weather has to offer right now. The streets are covered with ice & slush and it is so gross out... not too many smiles out there as people try to navigate huge puddles at intersections or hug buildings as they walk on the sidewalk to avoid splashes from passing vehicles.

January 17, 2011 - Diet Mist

Sigh, the plane ride home from Vegas was blah... kind of like my drink of choice for the flight - Diet Sierra Mist. It was about all I could handle after the previous night's indulgences. Tom kept making fun of me (he can be real mean sometimes.)

January 16, 2011 - Manilow

Yes, that's Barry Manilow - superstar. We saw his show at the Paris and it was a lot of fun, although at times a little strange. He had a gaggle of women in the front row screaming for him constantly which made me laugh, and I'll admit I snickered a bit when he caressed himself sensuously during "Weekend in New England," but the songs... the songs were no joke. He rocked the house with his classics and the audience loved him.

January 15, 2011 - Daaaaam

Two of the things on Tom's 101 list are a helicopter ride and seeing the Grand Canyon. We took care of both with a helicopter ride INTO the canyon, which was then followed by a bonus three hour raft trip down the Colorado river (starting here at the base of the Hoover Dam).

It was a neat adventure and it actually reminded me a lot of our trip to Alaska. That might sound strange considering how close we were to Vegas, but the spectacular scenery and the natural beauty of everything was awesome to experience.

January 14, 2011 - Pai Gow Winner!

The last time Tom and I were in Vegas, I learned to play Pai Gow poker at the Hilton from some sweet old ladies who recommended the game highly because "it's a great game to lose your money slowly." Tom learned too and we both became fans. We especially enjoyed playing at the Imperial Palace (where they have the celebrity impersonating Dealertainers!)

So we were excited this trip to return to the Pai Gow table and see if it was still as fun. It was!!! This shot is of Tom's royal flush winner which caused tons of excitement... he got a 150-1 payout on a $5 "bonus" bet and the rest of us got $50 a piece for "bonus envy!"

The only thing that would have made it better would be if I had hit five aces on another hand to get my own big payout, but I'm guessing that will happen soon ;)

January 13, 2011 - Off to Vegas

Tom and I are off to Vegas for a long weekend to celebrate my upcoming birthday. Here's Tom lounging in the Admiral's club at JFK.

One of our favorite things about this lounge is Alicia the bartender. She makes everyone feel really special and helps make traveling a lot of fun. Everything she says ends with "my love" or "mi vida" as in "Do you want an extra plate for your chicken quesadilla, my love?" or "Will that be two shots again, mi vida?"... she's genius.

January 12, 2011 - Schnipper's

Tom and I had tickets to see Green Day's American Idiot and grabbed a quick dinner at Schnipper's before the show. Wow. I had never heard of the place, but all Tom had to say was "sloppy joes / mac n cheese" and I was sold. It's exactly what I ordered and what you see in the picture above. It really was yummy & filling, and the large, cafeteria-like, dining room was fun.

I'm also excited that Schnipper's had been the location of a Bobby Flay throwdown. My aunt Kathy always asks me about NYC restaurants she sees on TV and I'm usually not familiar with them... I'm hoping she saw the episode with this place so I can tell her I know it!

And - American Idiot was really entertaining. I love Green Day regardless, so I knew I'd love the music, but I wasn't sure if I would love the show. Visually it was pretty incredible with a few moments that were just beautiful and the performers were all great. As a complete package, it didn't entirely work for me, but I'm definitely happy I got to see it, I loved the audience response & hope it sticks around for a long time.

January 11, 2011 - Foxy in Repose

I was starting to feel bad about not posting any pictures of my sweet li'l Foxy yet this year, so here is one to start 2011!

A couple months ago, Tom and I replaced the sofa in our living room because our old sofa had a big hole in it (thanks to some bad behavior from Howard!) In doing that, we ended up moving part of the old sofa onto our porch, and moving the pictured love seat from the porch into the living room as some secondary seating. It has become a favorite resting place of all the dogs, but none of them make it look as relaxing as Foxy.

January 10, 2011 - Rubirosa

Another food photo - this time it was a work get together at Rubirosa (235 Mulberry) for celebration pizza. Everything was delicious - especially the risotto balls... and the wine!

January 9, 2011 - Dim Sum Sunday

We celebrated our friend Dan's birthday in the best way possible - by eating! We met for Dim Sum at Ping's Seafood (22 Mott Street) and had a wonderful time. Here's a list of what I can remember eating - sticky rice, short ribs, spring rolls, shu mai, shrimp dumplings, shrimp balls, rice noodles with beef, rice noodles with shrimp, pork buns, a sweet bun, a chicken wing, some kind of noodles, and sauteed broccoli!!!

It was all delicious and I had to basically roll myself away from the table when it was over. Oh - it was cheap too! What a great Sunday brunch.

January 8, 2011 - Book Exchange Party

Yesterday, Tom & I had a Book Exchange Party. It's one of the things on Tom's list (www.hundredandonethings.com,) plus it was a lot of fun so I recommend it highly! Here's the gist of how it worked: everyone brought a book they read in 2010, we each talked a little bit about our book, and then everyone went to whichever person had the book they were interested in reading next and took it. Oh, and of course there were drinks and munchies (that is important!)

The books up for exchange ranged widely & as people described them I wanted to read them all... but, I'm very excited about the ones Tom and I ended up getting. We actually got 3 because there was an extra book in the mix so we lucked out with "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," "The Lacuna," and "A Visit From The Goon Squad."

All in all, it was a great Saturday night!

January 7, 2011 - Dreary Day

Sigh, it was such a gray morning going to work. This is a shot of Broadway, facing south from in front of my office. It was pretty dark and depressing. Later on we got a little bit of a baby blizzard, and people thought the city might shut down again like last week, but it really wasn't bad at all. Anyway, not much to say except this picture is about as blah as the day was.

Since there's really nothing interesting about the photo itself, here's a bit of tour guide info... the building you see with the water-tower in the center of the photo is actually where they filmed the first season of MTV's The Real World - almost 20 years ago!! It basically started right after I moved to New York, and I remember thinking at the time (watching from my apartment under the Triboro bridge in Astoria, Queens,) "Where do those people live? They are so lucky, they're the same age as I am, but they have the coolest apartment ever!" Well, 7 apartments and a house later, I've gotta say I'm REALLY happy with how my housing path has turned out, so you just never know.

January 6, 2011 - The Most Decorated House

Here's Tom standing in front of a house in our neighborhood. It still has holiday decorations up and they are super bright and fun! We walk by this house all the time on our way to/from our fave restaurant (The Farm) and I figure the people who live here must like to celebrate stuff and must be fun themselves in general.

You can see they have Christmas decorations AND a Star of David... and last spring they had a huge banner congratulating someone named Amanda on her graduation up for a couple months. Also, notice the 2 geese above the porch (just under the star.) I think they appeared sometime last summer just after a controversial "de-geeseing" occurred in nearby Prospect Park, so I suspect these folk are animal fans too. Or maybe they're just kind of crazy... in a fun way!

January 5, 2011 - Work Mug

When I started my job last August, some of the first things I noticed were the personalized company mugs most people had on their desks or grabbed from the kitchen cupboard when getting their morning coffee/whatever. To me, they represented a sort of "insider status" that I wanted... but I didn't want to ask for one (I didn't want to seem hung up over a mug!), so I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, right before the holidays, our office manager came around to all the recent hires over the past 6 months and asked the magic question "What do you want on your mug?"

It just arrived. Hooray! I'm in!

January 4, 2011 - Howard Wants to Play

I don't really know what this pink thing at the top of the photo is or was, but it's basically a rag we've affectionately named "Flower Baby" since it kind of looks like a flower and also to differentiate it from Squirrel Baby, Hot Dog Baby and the other "babies" that Howard loves to fling around the room (on his own if necessary.)

Playing with Howard can get intense because he becomes completely focused on the toy - disregarding any obstacle in his way whether it's furniture, a person, another dog, anything - and most sessions end with Foxy letting everyone know he's behaving in a way of which she doesn't approve.

January 3, 2011 - Diet Time

So the past couple of months (the holiday season, no more marathon training, etc, excuse, etc) was not a great time for my waistline. When I saw this book in the office I figured it would be good new year motivation to work on dropping some weight.

I'm guessing it's obvious I haven't started reading yet, because it's pictured here next to my dinner - probably not the best choice to kick-off a new diet ha ha. BUT... the cover does say "200 Ways to Lose 20 Pounds," so it IS possible that at least 1 them involves pizza. I'm guessing not, but it would be awesome & I'll keep my fingers crossed just in case!

January 2, 2011 - Hucky's Doughnut

This is Huckleberry (Hucky) and his new favorite toy - a squeaky rubber doughnut with sprinkles (a gift from our dog walker, Jan.) To say he's possessive of it would be an understatement... he loves it. When he couldn't find it earlier today, he nervously circled the house until I pulled it out from under one of the sofa cushions where it was hiding.

Every time Howard picks it up, Hucky follows him around growling as if he's in pain - waiting for the chance to steal it away. The funniest thing is that he doesn't even really do anything with it, he just carries it around like it's the best prize any dog could ever have.

In the single picture we have of Hucky as a puppy (he was almost 2 when Tom rescued him,) he has a baby pacifier in his mouth - so maybe this is reminiscent of that in a way. But whatever the reason, it's always wonderful to see him happy!

PS - You might notice that this photo is titled with more than a date (an idea I'm stealing from my wonderful friend Ellen,) we'll see how it goes!

January 1, 2011 - Happy New Year

It's 2011 - so I'm trying again!!! Happy New Year everyone - and prosperity for all (courtesy of my New Year's black-eyed peas.)