noteworthy

This has been, hands down, the best weekend I've had in a long, long time. Let's start with the fact that it was an actual weekend. Two days off. In a row. I didn't work at the Pub on Saturday night, and that alone would be cause to celebrate, but there's more. Let us start at the beginning.

Friday I took a half day at work, but like a fool got roped in to a delicious meal at DeLorenzo's. I really had no choice at all. Sausage and garlic pie should be administered by prescription, it's just that fucking addictive. Then I did all the things I had to do before the weekend, some errands, oil change, shopping, yadda yadda yadda. That night I had a spectacular dinner with Lauren, who I had not spent time with, or even really talked to in a few months. It was a lovely evening, good conversation, (thankfully) no weirdness or bad vibes, and a good meal. It was her birthday dinner, so I took her to a Japanese restaurant called Sagami that is well known for their sushi, plus I got her a little something. And I think she liked the card as well. She didn't even mind that I was burping up an horrific garlic smell all night long(thanks Fran).

Saturday some of the boys and I headed down to the City by the Atlantic for Frank's birthday celebration. We had a really expensive meal at the Hard Rock Cafe, then a friend of ours who manages the place took half off the bill. SCHWEET! Dinner was ok, but I was shocked to find that Jay's martini cost almost half as much as my new york strip, which I thought was a bit overpriced anyway. Then it was off to the Borgata for a night with the man himself, Henry Rollins. I have not seen Hank's spoken word in years, and it was nice to catch up with him. Also, before the show I put on a brilliant display of poker prowess, sitting at a 2-4 hold'em table and making $70 in less than 40 minutes.

Today was the spectacular finish to cap it all. As I was heading to AC last night I got a phone call from my friend Derek who invited me to the Giants' game. He got free tickets from his boss and there were plenty to go around. We headed up there around 2, got in the lot for some tailgating by 3:15 and were comfortably settled in for the kickoff. This was it, the first time seeing my beloved Giants play live. The game was a bit of a heart breaker all the way up until the final quarter. The boys in blue were down 20-10 with just over 13 minutes left in the game when the offense finally showed up and got them within striking distance. Then the defense actually showed up too and held Denver to a 3 and out with about five minutes left. Then they started the drive, and inexplicably, they won it. I mean, they were getting their asses kicked all game, half the fans left at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and they put together two great drives and a defensive stand to win the game with five seconds left. It was amazing. I was so damn happy that I couldn't stop smiling the whole way home. I wrapped up the night and the weekend with a nice little late night supper and some grand conversation with Mike at the diner. And all is right in the universe.