Shawn Takes Manhattan - Day 1 and 2: Long Island

Okay, take two since the update I wrote and posted from my phone never showed up on the site. TECH FAIL! 

I arrived Saturday morning and was greeted at the airport by jay Shatz who whisked me back to his quaint 3 story home in suburban Cederhearst. Cederhearst is basically Coral Springs with basements and better grass (also a lot more Orthodox Jews). It's a really nice town though and a bit less commercialized than Springs which makes for a better ascetic. 

We spent most of the day Saturday lounging around the house and hanging with Tina (Jay's wife) and their kids (my God kids) Kacie and Ryan. The kids are cute as can be and if I was worried that they wouldn't remember me it was a waste of a worry because they knew exactly who I was. Ryan is like a mini, high-pitched version of his Dad and Kacie is her Mother's daughter in every way ( I even caught her checking her hair in the mirror a few times). I say most of the day because Saturday afternoon Jay and I walked the kids down to a park and played for a few hours (video at the YouTube link below).

Ryan, in particular, impressed me at the park when he grabbed my hand, pointed at a large jungle gym and said, "Let's get on the pirate ship!" He then proceeded to "sail" us to an "island" where we "Crashed" and were "attacked by bad guys. He reminded me of me when I was a kid, always having stories and adventures when I played (he also LOVES super heroes and has a kick-ass Iron Man toy). 

After the park Tina took the kids to spend the night at their Grandmas (they went but only after making me PROMISE to not leave before they got back....adorable).  Tonight I got to read them a story and put them to bed it was fun to take care of kids again but funner still knowing they're not mine. 

Today Jason Rogers brought his wife Sarah and their daughter Daphne over to the house and we all went for brunch at this awesome diner. The egg sandwich I had was on par with D'Apple Cafe back home but their waitress had a creepy Greek accent and sounded mad every time she talked. Daphne, who I think is 17 months old, was the best behaved baby in a restaurant I've ever seen. She's too cute for words and later I'll post pictures you'll see what I mean. After breakfast we played with a Frisbee in the Shatz's front yard and watched some TV while the kids played with toys. 

Tomorrow I head into the City to begin my adventures making my first stop at Mighty Dave Kushner's (of www.mightydavekushner.com fame) place and then I'll be bouncing around town trying to see all my East Coast friends before I make my trek out West in July. 

Since I'm pressed for time I'm going to put up links to my YouTube and Picasa drop boxes where I've been posting videos and pictures if you're interested. 

YOU TUBE _ VIDEOS

PICASA - PHOTOS

Merry Christmas To All...Unless You Don't Celebrate Christmas.

The holidays are kind of boring, especially the ones you do not celebrate. Sure, if you get to open present then Christmas morning is the tits but if Christmas is just another day then it's the pits. The same can be said of Easter, another boring day for anyone not searching for eggs, but to a lesser degree.
Christmas is the worst because EVERYTHING is closed. It's not just the Postal Workers and Bank Tellers that inconvenience the rest of us by taking the day off, it's every-fucking-body. I mean, even WAL-MART is closed today. WAL-MART?!
The only places, that I can think of, that are open on Christmas Day are: gas stations, Asian cuisine restaurants and movie theaters. That doesn't leave a lot of options for the non-Christians that are excluded from a day of unwrapping and playing with new toys and gadgets.
Everyone likes to go to the movies, that's part of the problem for me. I live in a Jew-heavy town, which means the movie theater is fucking crowded on Christmas Day. This is made even worse by the Christian families, with nothing left to say to each other (even though this is probably the one time of year they're ALL together), that show up in large parties for a Christmas Day matinee. Honestly I don't think you should be allowed to go to the movies if you're not a Jew or non-practicing Christian, it's the one day of the year where the theaters are crowded enough with people that have, literally, NOTHING ELSE TO DO. Christians should stay home and play with their new toys or stare at the their Tree, or drink eggnog and sing song or whatever. Fuck, there's enough Christmas themed programming on TV and radio that any TRUE Christ-Worshiping person SHOULD have a full schedule on the BIG DAY.
I forgot, there are a few Jewish Deli's in my area that were opened today as well but as you can imagine they were crowded by 9am and stayed that way throughout the day. I got lucky this morning and made it to breakfast before the crowd arrived but as I was paying my bill I could see a line of SUV's pulling into the parking lot.
Needless to say, today was pretty boring for me. I ate breakfast, as I mentioned and then a few hours later (after killing some time visiting my Grandma in the hospital) I ordered Chinese with my sisters and then sat down to watch some movies (Pineapple Express and Kung-Fu Panda). It was a boring day that has now settled into a boring night (I've decided, barring some unforeseen cool event to attend, that I will spend the rest of the evening in bed writing and watching DVR'd TV shows that I've had sitting on my machine for some time now).

In other news, Eartha Kitt (one of three Catwomen in the cheesy 60's BATMAN series) died today. Other than playing Catwoman for a short stint she's the singer of one of my favorite Christmas songs, "Santa Baby". She was also in one of my favorite films by another dead superstar, "Ernest Scared Stupid", starring Jim Varney. RIP guys.


This blog was really more of a test than anything else. I've recently linked my facebook and blogger accounts to auto-sync. I'm hoping when I publish this post it'll automatically show up on my Facebook notes. We'll see. Keep you fingers crossed for me.