“Hot” new years, Eagles garbage
Our New Years Eve was spent at a local dinner theater seeing 42nd street. Our table sat 8 and the other 2 couples there were another family. The one guy looked awfully familiar to me. I never got his last name although I found out he owns his own jet and pilots it back and forth from here to NYC. So he was uber-rich. We tried several times to get him to drop what he did for a living but were unsuccessful in doing so. I know I know his face. All I know is his name is Steve.
The show itself was very good, lots of cool tap dancing and singing. As a New Years eve bonus, the performers came out and did some cabaret style acts leading up to midnight. Then about quarter till midnight, something went wrong. I heard crowd noise up front. As I looked, I noticed some stuff falling from the ceiling. Not a lot but a piece here and there. Seconds later that mumbling gets loud and a few people stand up and start yelling FIRE, FIRE, kill the lights!!!! There is some panic as people realize that something with the lights has overheated and there were embers falling from the ceiling! The people right under it cleared out pronto and a number of them headed for the exits. I was nervous as images of that nightclub in Connecticut that went up in a flash, shot through my mind. However, we stayed put and watched anxiously as they killed all the lights, brought out a high ladder and shot a fire extinguisher into the ceiling panels, sending a cloud of smoke cascading down. Damn! After they were sure it was out they tried to restore order. Some people stayed out but they flicked on a different set of lights and finished the number that was playing and finished up just in time for the countdown. It was memorable. As we left, the fire department showed up just to make sure the building wouldn’t burn down.
My wife’s parents came down and as a surprise her 91 year old grandfather tagged along. It was huge surprise for Ali since he always said there was no way he would come to Florida. He has one of the most regimented routines I ever saw and has never been this far away from PA IN HIS LIFE, so this was a major thing for him to come down here. We went out to dinner everynight but one while they were down, which wears on me very quickly but it was the major form of entertainment for them. I like talking to Pop Pop, he has good stories and hearing his 91 year old opinion on things is funny and interesting for me. One of the things that he brought up several times was the idea that we should belong to a church. Normally I would dismiss that and even get angry if someone would tell me that I should go to a church but Pop Pop’s reasoning was too funny to get mad at. He said that when you join a church, they mention that you belong to the church in your obituary and it’s nice to see that listed. 🙂 Hahahahaha. The idea of joining a church so when I am dead I have a nice obit was insanely funny to me but when Pop Pop said it I just shook my head and said “Yep…”
By the end of their stay you could tell Pop Pop was very anxious to get back to what he is familiar with and I totally understood. 91 is an odd time to do something you never did before in your life but I was glad he did. They all came over to our place on Sunday, their last full day here and we had a big meal and watched the absolutely horrible Eagles game. I understand wanting to rest players but I question the wisdom of getting hammered by 2 inferior teams the last 2 games of the year. The players that are being rested will not have played for close to a month by the time the Birds start the playoffs. I think that goes from being “rested” to “rusty”. Plus losing and playing so badly can not do anything but erode your confidence, especially considering the couple wins they scratched out prior to the losses demonstrated increasingly anemic performances. If they come out and lay an egg in the first playoff game, Andy Reid will be CRUCIFIED. I just think they shut it down too early.
I am glad the holidays are winding down. I have eaten like a pig over the holidays (mostly xmas cookies) and my gluttony has put 4 or 5 pounds on me. I’ll resume my regular diet and crank up the gym intensity to help melt those pounds off ASAP. Even those few pounds make me feel like schlub. It helps motivate me to fix things before they get out of hand, a good thing.
The Tsunami news is just more disasterous everyday. I saw some GRUESOME pictures of the recovered bodies that give a hint to just horrible this is. Dying in water does horrendous things to the human body. I now wish I didn’t see them as they are burned into my memory.
I played a lot on my GameBoy this weekend. I am committed to getting through the NES version of Punchout. I used to LOVE that game and was able to get all the way through with ease before. I am struggling trying to emulate that performance again. Right now I am stuck trying to beat Bald Bull the 2nd time you face him. I also broke down and installed World of Warcraft. The game is HUGE. It took almost an hour to just install it. By the time I got it installed I only had an hour or so to actually play. Within in the first few minutes I was challenged to a battle by some guy that saw I was an obvious noob. He froze me in place and then turned me into a sheep, poof. After he had his fun with me he lead me around a bit and tried to offer me a few tips. I wound up in an area that was being attacked by high level Orcs that slaughtered me multiple times. So I laid down and signed off to fight another day. I am trying to run before I can walk, I need to learn more of the basics before I am taking on anything major. I can see how the game becomes so addicting for people. I think many of my upcoming evenings will be spent trying to “level up”.