Put on the Glasses

Tried to post this yesterday.  This is the Williamsburg bridge.

Yesterday, we went with friends to Jones Beach on Long Island.  We had a blast.  I don't think I had ever been on a beach like it before.  The main beach season starts on Memorial Day but there were still tons of people there.  The beach itself is 6.5 miles long and has 23,000 parking spots.  It is just crazy big.  There were people everywhere and you could not see an end to the beach in either direction.   Here is Brian when we arrived at the beach.  Just to let you know: most of his pasty-white skin was saved from sunburn: He immediately buried himself in the sand: Brian and Bobby played in the waves: I share that picture simply because I want to remember the high pitched scream that came from Brian when he was getting hit by the waves.  The water was ice cold. Here are Christina and Rahela by the epic sand castle we built: The girls in the group first attempted to build a castle and it looked like a cross between a volcano and...

Blogging at the beach.  The speck is Brian.

I felt that an unnecessary photo of Leela would brighten my blog. Here are some of my thoughts right now: The Move Less than one week until we pick up the truck.  I can't believe how fast time has gone.  The majority of our stuff is packed up already and we are excited to get moving. We bought cardboard carriers for the cats.  We plan to dose them with this herbal calming remedy Brian bought at the pet store.  I hope it works. Internet Brian was a diligent mover.  About a week ago he called the power company, the gas company and our internet provider, Verizon, to let them know that we are moving.  Although Brian was very clear that we we still needed internet for a couple of weeks, they cut us off when he got off the phone.  Poor Brian spent hours on the phone with Verizon trying to explain what happened and to get it turned back on.  It took them almost a week to fix it.  It was ridiculous. All week and no internet makes Alici...

Last week, Brian and I finally made it to the last major historic monument on my personal list of must-sees in New York: Grant's Tomb.  It's is the largest tomb in North America and in it resides the bodies of former U.S. President and Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia.   It was breathtaking.  Brian and I went to see the tomb at an off-hour.  That meant that we got some stunning shots of the exterior, sans tourists.  The white building was so bright, it made my picture a bit blurry: Fun fact I learned: Grant was the second general to be given a 4th star in U.S. history.  The first was Washington.  That's how awesome of a general Grant was. It looks like it's glowing: I loved the detail on the eagle sculptures flanking the steps: Here are the sarcophagi where they are entombed: They were on a lower level.  You could look down on them, like you see here, and you could walk around them downstairs too. ...

On Saturday, Brian and I met with friends to go eat at the Shake Shack in Madison Square park.  It was one of those New York places I had been putting off.  I needed to check it off the list before the big move.  Above, you can see Brian with his burger and fries.  I forgot to take a picture of the line to get this food.  It was enormous.  I think we waited for an hour. Here's a picture of Brian while we were in line, you can kind of see how far we are from the building: The wait was worth it.  The food was excellent.  This shake was the best shake I have had in years: The other great thing in the park that day was the new art installation.  If you weren't paying attention, you might miss it: You don't see anything?  Let's take a closer look at the top of that building: See that statue on top of the building?  It is part of an art installation by Antony Gormley called Event Horizon .  There are 31 statues perch...

It has almost become a ritual for me.  Every May, Chuck Palahniuk releases a new novel and goes on tour.  Every May, I go see him and get my stuff signed.  Last night was Palahniuk's New York City event, held at the Cooper Union, and I was there. I was a VIP again, meaning I was one of the 100 people who got to meet Palahniuk and have their stuff signed (VIP just means that I was one of the first to buy a ticket).  With my ticket, I also got a free copy of the new book, Tell-All . Here I am with Palahniuk: Here's the silly picture: Here's Palahniuk on stage: The blow up Oscars and turkeys were part of a contest he did.  People had to blow up the Oscars as fast as they could.  The fastest won a blow-up turkey.  I did not compete.  I still have my blow-up penguin from last year and I never know what the heck to do with it.  The turkeys were pretty awesome though. Finally, here are pictures of what he signed in my books....

When we decided to move back to Minnesota, Brian and I walked around our neighborhood and took some pictures.  I thought I would share a few of the pictures here. Here is Brian looking out from the park at Grand Street with the Williamsburg Bridge behind him: Here's another shot of the Williamsburg Bridge in the rain: Here's the plaque describing the park as being the site of a ferry landing in the 1800's: This is the smoke stack the plaque was on: Here is some funny graffiti we saw while walking: Here is a shot of Manhattan across the East River.  There were very low clouds that day.  Just a bit to the left of center is the Empire State Building, getting lost in the clouds: It was a great walk but we will have to do it again when it is not raining.

We have been getting a lot of questions about our move to Minnesota.  So, I thought it prudent to post an FAQ. When are you moving?  We pick up the truck on May 26th.  We will be leaving NYC either that day or the next.  It all depends on whether we decide to drive straight to Minnesota or if we decide to spend a night somewhere.  This means that we are guaranteed in Minnesota, barring some unforeseen incident, by June 1st.  It is only a 20 hour drive so we will probably get there much sooner than that.  The lawyer in me says that I shouldn't make any promises. Are you bringing your cats?  Of course we are!  Why would you people believe for even a second that I could abandon my cats?  Have you not noticed the number of pictures of my cats I have posted to this very blog?  For your information, there have been a total of 33 posts about cats on this blog.  We still haven't decided how we are going to transport the cats, howe...

Facebook has been getting under my skin in recent months.  Don't worry, I am not going to delete my account, though I have been mighty tempted to do so. First, I have become very frustrated with how long it takes for my blog posts to show up on Facebook.  Facebook allows me, on the "Notes" page, to import an external blog.  I did that a few months ago and I loved it.  People were able to comment and see my blog regularly without having to go to the blog itself.  However, the time it takes to show my blog posts has become frustratingly erratic.  I publish something on the blog and it could be 5 minutes, 4 hours or, recently, 2 weeks for it to show up on my Facebook page.  It annoys me to no end. As a result I have unlinked my Blogger account from my Facebook page.  My blog posts will no longer be located in my "Notes" on Facebook and you will have to visit my blog to read the posts.  I'm still going to tell people that I posted, howev...